Ina & Fade
by Kelar The Mage
Summary: Involves made-ups, fairly obvious pairings, general insanity, and is the very odd result of four RP sites and a lot of characters. Innuendo. Enjoy! Ongoing. Latest: Being rebooted.
1. The Announcement

The Announcement

Panting echoed in the hollow stone room as two females circled each other. The elder of the two was heavily armored, her violet hair coming out in a braid from beneath her helmet. She held an axe in a large hand. The girl she faced wore a loose gown, with the skirt split up to the waist on both sides. She was a mere child, perhaps eleven or twelve if measured by human growth. Her ears were pointed, and pierced eight times. Wings projected from her back, though they had yet to come out from their sheltered position. Her silvery hair was held in place by a gold band in the back, and a bone coronet, and her pink eyes glittered with triumph. "Give up yet?" she asked, her voice harsh.

The woman shook her head, attacking again, though her efforts were deflected by a magical shield glowing pink. The girl yawned, showing small fangs. "Such a pride," she said, grinning, "Too bad that you aren't very good with magic." The woman growled.

"You and your stupid puns, Inanna!" she snarled, "This time I will crush you!" Inanna raised an eyebrow, smirking. Her hand lashed out suddenly, striking Pride in the neck. The woman toppled over, helmet falling off as she lost consciousness.

The girl bowed to an audience standing around the circle, "Any other takers?" she asked with a wicked smile.

"Nah, I'll pass, Ina," said another girl, giggling. Her white hair was pinned in an elegant coil of braid that rose about four feet, and than the excess hair fell loosely down towards her shoulders. Her skin was a deep charcoal, unlike her pallid friend. Her name was Mihi.

An unknown voice said, "Might as well. Not like I've anything better to do." A boy stepped from the shadows. His skin was a moonglow, like Ina's, and messy black hair fell into his eyes, hiding their color. He wore the typical Academy male uniform, a black blazer over a white shirt and black pants, and shoes with a stripe denoting his Form*. His stripe was yellow, cataloguing him as a member of the Fifth Form, and the red dot added on that he was a Prefect for that year.

Mihi and Ina glanced at each other, than at Mihi's school shoes. Mihi and Ina were in the same year, and both had already been chosen for their future positions. Ina was the heir to the headmaster of the school – and the ruler of Hell, Satan. He was her grandfather, and at her father's death at the hands of his own mother, she had taken his position. Mihi was heir and apprentice to one of the Nine Great Devils/Sins, Envy. She was very pretty, veiling violet eyes with long, curly white lashes. Her shoes denoted this; the blue stripe had been embossed with a golden 'E''. Had Ina been in uniform, with the annoyingly short skirt, her shoes would have looked the same, but emblazoned with an 'S'. Neither of them was well behaved enough to make it through those examinations that led to becoming a prefect.

Ina shrugged, "Very well. What's your name?"

"Fade."

"Ooo...Isn't that kinda depressing?" Mihi asked. Both girls had heard of him of course, it was rumored that Satan, when he chose someone for Ina to possibly marry, would choose either Fade, or another boy known as Slade. Slade was apprentice and heir to Lust, so in all terms, every girl in school had advised Ina to go for Fade if he popped up on the list of suitors. Thus, at the moment this thought crossed both girls minds, Ina's cheeks visibly heated up.

Fade didn't seem to notice, and the two moved into the circle. He struck first, as the challenger, and Ina ducked as he somehow penetrated her shield.

"You're good; first person who's been able to do that," she commented, distracting him briefly. Her bare foot slammed into his chest, slamming him backwards and knocking the wind form him. He was up in a moment, shifting to a wolf-like form and tackling her. Suddenly, Mihi pulled him off.

"Are you crazy?!?" the girl demanded, looking at Ina, whose eyes were slowly turning red. She knelt, fastening a choker back into place, and glared at Fade, "You nearly released her!"

"She's a half-demon**?"Fade said, turning back to his human form, an expression of shock written upon his features.

"Yes!" Mihi snapped, "I thought the gossip was explicit about that much wolf-boy!"

"Don't listen to it," he said, shrugging.

Ina's eyes had returned to pink, and she sat up, "What happened?" she asked.

"I have to go," Fade muttered, vanishing.

"He's rude," Ina grumbled. Mihi nodded, helping her friend up.

"He nearly removed your seal," her friend whispered, "I'm not sure even he could save himself if that happened..."Ina nodded, and both girls traced a pentagram over their chest. ***

They both vanished, each appearing outside a door. The one Ina stood in front of was decorated with metal lightning. She placed her palm against the door, and it creaked open. She slipped inside, shutting it behind her, and a ball of white-hot light burst into life in her hand. Once she could see in the previously dark room, she found matches. She struck one, catching it alight, and touched it to several candles. Her room was lit in a flickering glow, not as substantial as the lightning in her hand. She smiled at it and it vanished, leaving her in the semi-dark.

Her room was simple, typical of a girl in the Fourth Form, Second Year. She yawned, flopping onto the simple bed provided and staring at the ceiling. Before she had come to the Academy, she had lived with her father. When he died, the King of the Werewolves' chief guardian, Crest, had adopted her though her duties in the Underworld were still a high priority as she learned the types of magic of the Above-Worlds.

The girl shook these thoughts, and looked over at her desk. Her desk was littered with things, including her uniform. She sighed, knowing it was almost class time and that she needed to change. Reluctantly, Ina got up and stripped off her gown. The wings, which were a simple shape-change, vanished, and she tossed the coronet thing into a corner. She had yet to develop, something odd for her age, and was more flat than most boys were. She pulled on the black skirt, grumbling softly as she zipped it, than her shirt. The shirt was a simple matter, large as it looked; it fit her small frame perfectly, shrinking to size. Than she pulled her blazer on and pinned a metal lightning bolt to the pocket. One thing was missing however.

"Where are my shoes?" she wondered softly, frowning. She finally found them, using a spell. They were hidden under the flooring and she had to pull up a loose floorboard. Stairs went down, but her boots were on the first step. Quickly, she pulled them on, blowing the dust off, and closed the opening, hurrying from her room.

First period was with Wrath, who led Dis's defenders and maintained order in the city if riots or war broke out. She was a pretty woman, bescarred as she was, and her face had managed to avoid most of the worst. She had dark skin like Mihi, and her hair had been dyed a deep red. She usually wore her armor, even at school, and talked quickly in her class, Self-Defense. Many of the students liked her, because she was one of the few teachers among the Sins who did not live up to her name. Indeed, unless Pride was involved, Wrath was slowest to anger.

Second period came, a monotonous lesson of history with Sloth, who spoke slowly and softly. Most students fell asleep during this class. Sloth was in charge of nothing, seeing as teaching had to be forced upon her. Her hair was gray and her girth immense and she typically wore a grey robe stained with grease and sweat. No one particularly liked her for anything, though she could be rather kind. The only time she had been seen to do anything willingly was to fight Pride and win. The school had talked of nothing else for days after.

Third period came and went, taught by Lust. Lust was a general, in charge of Satan's personal guard and those who guarded the school. She was a pert woman, with light skin and golden hair. Her eyes were tourmaline and large. Typically she would wear a blue gown, unless the school was in one of its all too frequent times of danger. Male students tended to get nothing from the class while they stared at her curves, and some girls had the same problem. Not that math of any sort could be called easy...

There would be a short rest period after Third, in which students would congregate in a large courtyard for announcements. Occasionally the headmaster would come to speak with them, bestow favors or whatnot. Most students would get something to eat at this point, a small snack or whatever, and work on homework from their first three classes.

Ina sat on a bench with Mihi and two other students. One, a girl, was named Lucky. She had pale skin like Ina and long blonde hair that easily touched the ground, kept in a neat braid. A green streak ran through it. Her eyes were mischievous emeralds framing a long, straight nose. The other, a boy, was named Koru. He had pale skin and white hair. His eyes were jet black, and he tended to be silent. Their shoes denoted that they were both members of the Eighth Form, the green stripes being hard to miss. Koru's red dot indicated that he was a prefect, while Lucky's was emblazoned with a 'W'', indicating that she was heir/apprentice to Wrath.

A quiet slipped over everyone as the sound of boots clattered, somehow silencing the crowd of over four-thousand students, and eight teachers. A tall man, straight-backed and elegant, marched to the center of the room. His eyes were red, his hair silver, and his skin was a moonglow sheen. He looked like an older, male, full-demon version of Ina. This was her grandfather, Satan.

"As you all know, this year successors have been chosen among Forms. I would like you all to know who they are. Inanna, Lucky, Mihi, Slade, Gossamer, Hereux, Parrasseux, Jolie and Chaud," he said, voice a loud boom. "And Fade."

Ina, Lucky and Mihi stood up. They were followed by Slade, a handsome boy with white hair, Gossamer, a pretty girl with vividly pink hair and fairy wings, Hereux and Parrasseux, twin brothers who looked like squirrels, Jolie, a pretty brunette who looked like a grid of scars if hit by the right light, and Chaud, a dark and handsome man in his last year of school. Fade stood last, looking confused. Everyone else looked equally confused. That made ten, not the usual nine...What had changed? Who had taken on two apprentices?

No one knew yet. They would know soon, very soon.

*-'Forms' are like grades. Basically, a Form has people of two ages. I.E. the Fourth Form would have twelve and thirteen year olds.

**-Half-demons, in this construct, may have a 'second form' they can take. However, unlike a full demon, they have no control in this form.

***-A pentagram to these characters is like a cross to Christians, or the 'Sign Against All Evil' from Tamora Pierce's Tortall books.


	2. Hell

Hell

Ina hurried along the corridor to her fourth period with Pride. The ornery woman stood at the head of the class, clad in armor. The Fourth and Fifth Forms took the Fighting Arts together, so it was no surprise to anyone when older students came in, the yellow stripes on their shoes bright in the hot light of the classroom. Most of them shunted those of the Fourth Form aside to take random seats.

Slade tried to push Mihi from her seat, and there was a flash of lightning, his hand was bloody. He yelped, backing away from the two Fourth Form girls who sat in the front, than turning tail altogether and hiding at the back of the classroom. Fade snickered, taking the third seat in the front. It happened to be near Ina, and he was substantially taller than her, that without moving her could see down her shirt. He blushed slightly, turning his head away.

Pride yelled at them for half the class period about fighting properly without using magic, than divided them into partners. Mihi and Jolie, Ina and Gossamer, and Slade and Fade were against each other.

The rhyming Fifths went first. Slade aimed a rather pathetic punch at Fade and was easily blocked. Fade struck a light blow, and that managed to throw Slade into the wall and knock him out. Somehow. It put even Pride into hysterical laughter. He was awarded high marks for spotting all Slade's weaknesses.

Next were Mihi and Jolie. They were more interesting, but not as funny as the previous match was. Eventually, Jolie ended up flying into Slade's lap and fainted with a scream. That entertained everyone as well, but Mihi didn't get high marks – she'd been much slower than Jolie.

Ina and Gossamer were next. Both put up quite a fight, but eventually Ina beat the half-Fae with a swift touch to parts of the body to paralyze the other girl. While not as entertaining as the other two, Pride did give them the highest marks of the groups for that day – grudgingly.

The three pairs of sweaty students were forced to stay after class. The four girls were holding their hair off their necks, glancing nervously at each other. The two boys were glaring at each other with hatred.

"Now, as unimpressive as your fighting would be with older ages, it is impressive for the lack of talent any of you six have shown," Pride said coldly, "You will report to me for martial lessons. Go now." As they headed towards the door, she added, "And congratulations, Fade, Inanna, on becoming Satan's apprentices."

All six turned, staring at her with wide eyes. She smiled cruelly, "Shoo."

They obeyed robotically, exiting. The door slammed shut, and than Slade tackled Fade, trying to pummel him, "He chose a runt like YOU over me?!? A werewolf over a demon!"

Ina and Mihi hauled Slade off, but he tried to surge forward, and inadvertently landed awkwardly on Ina. She tried to shove him off, managing to hold him an inch away from her face. "Get off!"

Fade pulled Slade off, glaring at him so fiercely that the other boy gulped nervously and vanished. He than helped Ina up, his hand warm against her cold one.

Jolie and Gossamer poked Mihi, whispering to her. She shook her head firmly, "Come on. Let's go to fifth."

Ina smiled at Fade, walking off with the other girls. Her long hair swished.

Their fifth period class was Language, and was taught by Envy. She was a sleek, golden woman with bronze skin, bird wings, and cat eyes. She was quick to note a person's faults, and would exploit their temper mercilessly, and their weaknesses. Ina found the class fun, more fun than most, simply because she had learned most of the languages of the Above-Worlds, and could speak them fluently, and Envy, much as she wanted to, couldn't fail her. Not that she hadn't tried.

They had a pop-quiz in class on the most common language of Lycanth, the werewolf country. Envy went around, hissing random insults at various students. It wasn't personal, she just didn't like anyone. Ina ignored her, finishing first of her Form. Envy growled viciously, taking it. A look-over told her it was all right. The woman gnashed her teeth. "Go. Study on vampiric linguistics," she growled, slapping the paper to the desk.

Ina hurried off before Envy could turn into a harpy. She ran into Fade just as she reached the Narrow Way, a spindly bridge that crossed the Pit, or the Abyss. A horrible monster was chained there for eternity, and if a person fell in, they could age tremendously, or become a child once more. There'd been some noteworthy incidents in the past few years. Disgusting, smog filled vapors rose all around the bridge, but as long as the person crossing was supposed to be there, they would not fall.

Fade cursed, looking down, "How do we keep meeting?" he demanded.

"Don't ask me," Ina snapped, trying to push past.

He grabbed her arm, pulling her closer, eyes flickering. She pressed her hand against his chest, lightning flickering. "Let me past," she said softly, voice dangerous.

"Easy," Fade said, a grey-colored shield forming across his body. "I could swear I've seen you somewhere before..."

"Yeah – Fourth Period," Ina said mockingly, "What? Your memory not long enough or something?"

"No... Ever been to Lycanth?"

Ina stared, "Why are you asking? I practically lived there for five years."

Fade frowned, "Did you ever visit the castle?"

She snorted, "Lived there. With Crest. Why?"

"That's why I knew I knew you..." Fade said.

"What?"

He ignored her and walked away, leaving her behind, indignant.

"If the jerk's going to ask me something he might as well answer me!" she complained and walked to the bridge. She moved cautiously through the smog. A giant hand loomed ahead and made a grab for her. She dodged, lightning lancing from her fingers. She backed away and hit another hand, which grabbed her. She screamed, changing shapes. A werewolf wrested free from the hand, biting and clawing and howling.

Fade heard the howls and screams and turned. He could see something huge and red through the smog, and a werewolf battling the hands of the creature desperately, with claws, teeth and lightning. He barely thought as he rushed to the aid of Ina, though he didn't realize it was her – he wasn't what could be called observant sometimes. He changed to a werewolf himself, leaping onto the other hand and ripping viciously. They fought the creature until it retreated. Ina had a vicious gash in her side from the thing's fingernail. She nudged Fade, who was lying on the bridge, a shallow rip in his face and tried to heal it. Nine forms flew towards them, and Ina bristled, uttering a chilling howl before she recognized them.

Satan blinked as he landed, "Well, it seems these two beat It back. Which of our students have werewolf forms?" He frowned.

"I believe Inanna and Fade have these forms," said the silky voice of Lust, "Let me see..." She poked the two, changing them to their usual forms. "Darling, why don't you take the boy to the infirmary? I'll take Inanna."

Satan nodded, picking Fade up, and Lust lifted Ina. They flew in the direction of the infirmary with the two children, talking swiftly.

Ina only heard parts of the conversation from her position. She felt ill and tired, and slowly lost consciousness.


	3. Infirmary

Infirmary

Ina awoke in the Infirmary, in a sheltered room. Fade lay in there as well, asleep. She sat up slowly, every muscle in her body screaming in agony, and noticed with a slight shock that she had nothing on. She inspected her body quickly, noting that there was a new scar across her stomach. She lay down again, pulling the sheet over her chest and listened as voices talked outside. She recognized them vaguely.

"...I can't believe a girl and a boy beat-..."

"That's the son of the werewolf king and-"

She tuned them out, bored, and searched for clothing nearby. She found a tank top, jeans and undergarments, and pulled them under the covers to dress. The effort to pull them on was tiring to her protesting body, and she lay back for some time, staring at the ceiling before she sat again. Fade was up by now, she hadn't noticed, and had dressed. He was listening to what was being said outside the door, frowning. He made a motion for silence at her. She waited until he sighed.

"I didn't know you were a werewolf," he said, looking at her sidelong.

Ina felt her face heat up, and a thousand arguments rose to her lips. He waved it aside. "I am too, as you may've noticed. Prince of them in fact. I also didn't know that you're a princess."

Ina wrinkled her nose, "Wish I wasn't. Pride wouldn't hate me so much if I weren't. Than she'd get to be in charge when Grandda dies. I'd rather not have to deal with it."

"Sucks for you, I s'pose," Fade said, shrugging. "I don't mind being royalty."

"You were probably raised for the job," Ina pointed out, "I wasn't actually raised..."

"Huh?"

"Da just let me do whatever I wanted, long as I didn't get myself killed," she said, "So of course, he got himself killed." She shrugged, "I'm getting bored here."

"We're here till they've subdued that thing. Apparently it isn't supposed to come out till the end of the Above-Worlds and the beginning of new ones," Fade said.

Ina sighed, "Did they have any reason for why the friggin' thing came after me?"

"No. Personally, I think being near the girls dorms and seeing teenagers in indecently short skirts might do it... Might've given the creature brain-damage..."

Ina burst out laughing, "I have waited so long for a guy to say that! I hate those things!"

Fade looked half-surprised, and rather pleased with himself. He leaned against the wall and fiddled with a random dangling thing. "What's this?" he asked.

Ina stood painfully and hobbled across to look at it, "It's a pent-up spirit. It can be a good spirit, or a bad one. One brings luck and health, the other bad luck and illness. Looks like yours is a bad one...Maybe this is Slade's usual spot..." She sat at the edge of the bed, sighing.

Fade snorted, "I think I'll send it to him." The dangling thing vanished. "So, how'd you become a werewolf?"

"A werewolf named Crest-" Ina started, but was promptly interrupted.

"Crest? She practically raised me," Fade said, "Why'd she bite you?"

"She adopted me, as I was going to say if you weren't sure you could read my mind. I got attacked by some perverted werewolf around my age I think, who turned me into one and than got murdered when my magic went berserk...Lightning magic, it is."

"Ouch."

Ina shrugged, "One less pervert for the world – I could only wish Slade had been there. Did you know he worships Lust?"

"You're joking," Fade said voice flat.

"Am not. He worships her and has a shrine in his underwear drawer..." Ina shuddered, "He has a shrine to me in his sock drawer...'tis disturbing."

Fade twitched, "That's beyond creepy..."

Ina nodded and yawned. She didn't have enough strength to walk back to her bed, so she simply curled up where she was and fell asleep.

Fade blinked at the girl asleep on his bed and flushed. He made no move to get rid of her, probably because he was falling asleep himself.

When the demon in charge of the infirmary looked in the room an hour later, the two teens were asleep, and at some point, Fade had moved to where he was next to Ina, face fierce. She shook her head, "Too sweet." A glance around told her no one else was there, and she produced a camera and snapped a picture. "Slade won't like this, but he'd better deal with it. If he wants the girl, he'd best get a love potion and fast."

Fade woke up a few hours afterward with a nagging feeling something was going to happen. He shook Ina lightly, "Ina, wake up."

Ina didn't quite wake; she thrashed in the course of some dream. "No!" she snarled, angry and afraid, asleep.

Fade frowned, "Ina..." He prodded her in the shoulder, and she woke, eyes terrified and unfocused. They adjusted quickly, and focused on his face.

"What?" Ina asked groggily, sitting.

"Something's going to happen... I don't know what though..."

Ina sighed, "Wonderful." She twitched her fingers, and shoes floated from her bedside towards her. She pulled her boots on, "Come on. I doubt that when it happens – whatever it is – I doubt we'll want to be here." She seemed to have recovered most of her strength.

Fade nodded, pulling on boots left at his bed. She gripped his wrist and the two vanished. They appeared in pitch-black darkness. "Where are we?" he asked as a bright ball of lightning illuminated the area.

"My room," Ina said, flicking a hand. Globes of lightning blazed into life behind curtains of black silk. She pitched forward suddenly. "Oh god – the ground!" She grabbed a satchel from her desk and held onto Fade's arm until the ground stilled. She heard pounding beats, pointed ears trained. "Come on!" She pulled the floorboard away, the lightning gathering in her hand, and jumped down. "Come down, and put the floorboard over you." He landed beside her, the floorboard sliding smoothly overhead. They climbed down for what seemed an eternity, until they reached a smooth rock tunnel. They stopped to rest there, exhausted. Ina summoned some water and they drank.

After an hour or so, they went through the tunnel. Another flight of massive stairs led up, covered in lichens and strange light-giving plants. Ina dimmed the lightning and let her earrings absorb it. They gave off a glow ahead of her, and Fade followed, having changed to his werewolf form. After several more, long, grueling hours, they reached the top of the stairs. Stars gleamed above them, and Ina dropped. "Oh. My. God. Maybe we should've just taken the easy way out." Fade nodded weak agreement, sniffing the air. "We're near home..." he said, "And it's the full moon."

"Good. I hope they find us," Ina said. She glanced at herself, "Yep. Changed. Fun." She curled up, trembling, "I don't know what that was, or why we even ran..."

"Base instinct," Fade said, head on paws, "Whatever it was, it smelled awful. It smelled of death and blood, evil and malice."

Ina shrugged, "Yay. Sounds like that Pit-thing."

Fade snorted, "Enthusiastic, aren't we?" He rolled over, stretching out. "Hey...I smell Crest's scent 'round here."

Ina's head snapped up to sniff tentatively, "Yep! She's here!"

A werewolf came into view, trotting. "Oh!" Crest bounded over to the two, "What are you doing here?"

"Issues, like a monster," Ina said. Her head fell again, "It's the thing in the Pit, I think," she added in a whisper.

"Wonderful. Are you two too exhausted to walk? I can send y'all to the palace if you need it," Crest said, nudging Ina.

Ina's face curved up into a sort of smile, baring teeth, "I don't think I'd make it..." She sighed.

Crest nudged her, than Fade, using a spell to send them to the werewolf palace. It was deserted for the moment. They'd appeared in Fade's suite of rooms, and Ina barely noticed. She was tired, and though her brief conversation with Crest had aroused some interest, she was barely awake. Her head drooped to the ground, and she was out of it. Fade was awake a little longer, but not much. It was long enough for him to begin wondering exactly what had been chained in the Pit. Than he fell asleep as well, his teeth bared in a snarl against some invisible monstrosity which only he could see.


	4. Lycanth

Lycanth

Fade woke slowly, though it started with the feeling that there was a weight on him. When he finally opened his eyes, he discovered that someone had moved him to his bed at some point, and that there was a heavy quilt over him. He sat up slowly, wondering where Ina was. His question was answered almost instantly. She was still asleep, curled up on the ground. No one had touched her for some reason, which would normally have confused Fade. His head hurt too much to think much for the present. A face suddenly pushed its way into his range of vision. The face was fuzzy for a moment, and all he could tell was that the person had long white hair, than his vision cleared and he saw a young woman of about twenty standing over him. She had cat ears and a double tail that flickered up close to her face, and her eyes were fogged. He realized she was blind with a jolt, and sat bolt upright.

"He's fine, other than a headache," the woman said, "Crest; could you move the girl for me?"

"Why can't you move her yourself?" Crest retorted. Her human form was that of a handsome woman in her late twenties with raven hair and deep golden eyes. "It isn't like you have any problem lifting heavier things, Liiane."

"I have claws," Liiane snapped back, "Just do it."

Crest rolled her eyes and muttered something obscene at Liiane, and hefted Ina up, "Come on, we can put her in her room. I don't know why she ended up in his anyhow..." The women filed out the door, Liiane winking at Fade before the door shut.

He must have fallen asleep or passed out after that, because when he thought again, and moved, it was dark outside, and he was hungry. He dragged himself from beneath the quilt, still dressed in his clothing from the Academy, and walked slowly to the door, pulled it open and left his room.

The corridor was empty, but as he headed in the direction of the kitchens, he heard people arguing. He stopped, hiding in the shadows, as an elegant woman with russet hair and his father passed by.

"I'm telling you Draug – you can't ignore this anymore! If he takes one more, the Gorgons will attack! You either get rid of him, or your country will be stone!" she snapped.

"Gwen, I can't, you know that. Even in Lycanth, we have laws and all, but unless he's caught, my paws and hands are tied," Draug said, running a hand through his mahogany hair. His dark eyes were shadowed, and looked older than when Fade had seen him last. He knew the woman by name, and wondered at the fact she was there.

Gwendolyn Tennyson was a renowned woman throughout all the worlds. It was rumored she had defeated the Destroyer of Worlds, along with a handful of other people, and had taken the role that was practically suicide, the bearer and being of the Seventh Shiner. She had survived, and two years later, made another close brush with death. She had used Bloodmagic on an evil warlord, killing him and wasting his center of operations, destroying his lieutenants. She had recently performed the Suicide Spell and held her spirit in Life long enough to heal her body by sheer willpower, and recently, had become immortal. She was feared, respected and admired. To Fade, the idea of her speaking to his father was a dizzying prospect.

Her head snapped sideways suddenly, her emerald eyes piercing through him. "This is your son, I take it?" she asked Draug.

"Fade?" Draug yelped.

"He has an interesting future," Gwen said, beckoning to him. "Come here boy; don't start freaking out on me."

Fade found himself stepping forward, scared and excited at once.

"Oh don't you start on me, Draug," Gwen snapped at his father, as the man tried to grab her arm. "Hello, Fade Silvermoon."

"S-silvermoon, lady?" he asked, confused.

"Call me Gwen – I can't stand titles, and I don't need 'em. Silvermoon is your last name, and your mother's."

"My mother's? I – My mother died having me," Fade stammered.

"No. She didn't. she ran away as soon as she was able, because Draug forced himself upon her. She is one of my dearest friends, and rules the dragons and elves."

Fade stood in shocked silence, staring at the most powerful woman in the world and his father. suddenly, his mind was in turmoil and uproar. He couldn't speak, could barely breathe, and his appetite was utterly vanished.

"Fade?" He knew the soft voice that uttered that. Ina was there. Her tone changed, "GWEN!" She flung herself upon the revered mage, hugging her, "I didn't expect to see you here!"

"Don't shock the poor child any more," Gwen said, looking at Fade with concern, "I think I just turned his world around a hundred-eighty."

"What does that mean?" the demon girl asked, blinking.

"It means I just told him an unexpected truth about his parents. He's in shock," Gwen said. "Why don't you get him some food, and take him to meet some of your friends to get him out of it? Maybe take him to the Realms. Draug and I will continue our discussion..." The glance she threw at the werewolf king was terrifying, and he flinched slightly, giving off a shaky grin.

Ina frowned, but obeyed, guiding Fade away from the two. His face was numb, and his brain reeling. Finally, in the kitchens, he managed to speak again.

"I-He-I can't believe it!" he half-yelled.

"Shhh..."Ina cautioned, "Can't believe what?"

"That he you know, that she didn't marry him," Fade said.

"Who?" Ina asked, bewildered.

"My father! He couldn't have, he wouldn't have!"

"Oh. That's what she told you," Ina said. She shook her head, "If Risa wasn't her best friend, and if she hadn't saved her so many times, she'd probably murder Gwen for telling you that."

"Why?"

"I don't think she wants to acknowledge publicly how many children she's had who aren't her husband's. Half of her children are the products of rape; Kalliel, Emerald, Doom, Bones and you," Ina said, frowning.

"I have half-siblings?" Fade yelped.

"Um...Yeah. The ones that are full siblings, other than the illegit triplets, are Khalith, Linath, Rhiannon-she's crazy; don't EVER talk to her unless you're into wild schemes, Tom and Lirael."

"So... What are the Realms?"

"The Dragon Realms! It's a sort of semi-world that was turned into a full one when their home world was destroyed. It borders Lycanth, the Underworld, and has a weird portal-border to Earth. It also borders the clans of all three of the great Gorgon clans, and the lesser ones," Ina nodded vigorously, "It shares sky-space with Sapphiron's Moving Castle-School-Thing, and with the Fae world, and the giants live on the opposite planet. They share two moons!"

"And you know all this why?" Fade asked.

"Gwen taught me up there for a year or two, and loads of languages," Ina said, "Envy hates me for it."

Fade smirked, "She hates anyone who speaks anything beyond Forensi fluently."

"Guess she'd really hate meeting Gwen..."

"Why?"

"She speaks a language that can translate in your mind, into your native tongue. It's rather bizarre at times, since there'll be a faery, an elf, a Drow, a dragon, a demon, a seraph, and a giant, and they'll all hear her in different languages with absolutely perfect grammar and pronunciation." Ina giggled, "It's insane."

"I bet..."Fade muttered. He turned the subject back to his father, "But why didn't they marry if they had me? Why did he lie?"

"I think he's ashamed of what happened, these days," Ina said. On an impulse, she hugged him, "If it makes you feel better, MY mother hires all sorts of people to try killing me."

Fade blinked, "Your mother?" he asked, not sure he'd heard right.

"And my grandmother," Ina added, "My female relatives aren't very fond of me."

Fade winced at her plain mention, "Ouch."

Ina shrugged, "Grandmother killed Father, but somehow she blames me for the whole thing. So, want to go to the dragon realms?"

Fade sighed, "Might as well..."

Ina grinned and grabbed his arm, and the pair vanished.


	5. The Dragon Realms

The Dragon Realms

Fade stared about him in awe. The Realms were sunlit, golden and cheerful. He could see far beyond what he normally could, and even spotted a huge jungle a long way away to the south. To the east and west, he could see far enough to find oceans on both sides, and to the north, he had a far different viewpoint of the mountains that bordered Lycanth, and the homes of the Mountain Gorgon tribes. He looked about until Ina pulled him behind a tree, her hand over his mouth.

A strange creature stalked past, its body hunched in half. It walked with a slow, lumbering gait, the hump on its back waving back and forth, out of rhythm with its body. After it had passed, Ina said softly, "That's an Orc. They're HORRID and perverted creatures. They hunt dragons and elves, but especially the elves." She had taken her hand away. "Come on, I'll see if I can find K'thonya."

"K'thonya? As in the general? The one Father's always talking about?" Fade asked, "You know her? How?"

Ina laughed, "I told you, I was Gwen's apprentice. Gwen, Queen Risa, and K'thonya are best friends. They've been friends since 'thonya was sixteen, and Risa and Gwen eleven. Ben, Risa's husband, is Gwen's cousin. He fights with Gwen all the time – if you see a giant snapping turtle eating Orcs, it's a safe bet he called Gwen some dumb name and she lost her temper. He's blind in one eye from her."

"Any other notables you're friends with?" Fade asked, raising an eyebrow, "As far as I can tell, you're well acquainted with royalty in two countries, amazingly powerful people, and you're a princess to boot."

"Well...There's a Fae princess, and Graille, 'thonya's sister; she heads a Naga enclave and a gorgon tribe and is a part of the Royal Guard with 'thonya. I think there are a few others, but I can't remember them very well, and one or two giants...," the demon girl said, frowning. "And of course, there was that one vampire king stalker..."

"A vampire?" Fade yelped.

"Yeah. He was a total perv." She glanced at Fade, "Not my stalker, Gwen's. He's terrified of me, probably because I told him I was Satan's grandkid."

The werewolf prince nodded. They trudged along the pathway for a while, when all at once, a flying blur crashed into Ina, knocking her over. It was soon distinguishable as two children, both yelling at the top of their lungs.

"INA! YOU'RE BACK!" they yelled, frantically hugging her. She struggled for a straight face, and finally gave up.

"Rhia, Khalith, get off now. This is Fade. Where are the triplets?"

"Oh...No one's told you?" the smaller of the girls, a very purple one, asked.

"Told me what?" Ina asked.

"A lot of people have been going evil. Lithal, Linath, and Kalliel are evil now, and Amari and Sibyll have permanently merged, they're called Lii now. Ali's gone evil too. Sarah and Koto are the same as ever of course, and there's a lot of random other people showing up, and Gwen created wombat-people!" the older girl said, and she took only about ten seconds to belt it all out.

"Well, life likes preparing weird surprises, doesn't it," Ina murmured. "Rhia, where's your mother?"

"Asleep at her desk, as usual."

Ina made a strangled sound and shook her head, "Honestly! Hasn't anybody heard of getting lives?"

"Mom hasn't, but you already knew that," the tiny, purple one giggled. "So..." She paused, and whispered conspirationally, "I turned Daddy into a big kitty! I teleported him to Uncle Hex's house, into one of the cat traps!"

"Alright, Khalith. Er – How big is he this time?" Ina asked.

"Very, very, very big. He's bigger than the mountains. He tried to eat a dragon by accident – he thought she was a fly!"

"I'll make a note not to cross paths with him," the demon-girl drawled, shaking her head. "Honestly, how the heck can ANYONE have that big an ego?"

"Easy," Rhia said, twirling and giggling. "When can I try jumping in the Pit?"

"You won't. That thing they keep inside of it is out, I think." Ina propped her hands on her hips and glared at Rhia, trying to look dramatic and forbidding enough for Rhia to listen to her, but she succeeded only in making the children and Fade laugh. She rolled her eyes. "Anyhow, let's bother…" After a moment, she sighed, "How 'bout Omnia?"

"Omnia?" Fade asked, curious.

"Bazeloran queen," Ina said, spinning, "She's like, really neat. She has this bag with things like rocks and paper in it, but if you toss them out they turn into giant dog-things or bats or something. Really cool. She's married to Risa's brother S'argt – the funny thing is that he's like, way younger than her."

Fade gave a sort of twitch towards this news. "Why do I have a feeling it just gets weirder?" he asked the air.

"Because it does. Trying to draw your family tree would induce temporary insanity – Risa, Ben, and Gwen have all had that discovery. It just gets more complicated by the day," Ina said, and shrugged. "So, let's go bug Omnia." She glanced at Rhia and Khalith, "She is here, isn't she?"

"Yeah," they chorused.

"Where?"

"The usual rooms," Khalith volunteered. "Can we help?"

"Sure," Ina said.

Fade wasn't ready for this again – he collapsed in the room they appeared in, using several choice swearwords under his breath. Rhia tackled him, and for a moment, he thought he'd offended her somehow, but she was grinning.

"Where did you learn those?" she demanded, pulling a small notebook, something he might have expected to come from Earth, out of a pocket.

"Uh…my father…"

Ina was the first to notice the shadows looming over them. She bent backwards, and beamed when she saw the person. "Hello Omnia!"

Omnia had long white hair. She was barely in her thirties, but the hair – and her shockingly purple eyes – stemmed from an accident in her teens. She wore a golden-red gown. Instead of looking annoyed at the fact her room had been invaded, she sat. "What is it this time?"

"It's not Aiden. We're just bored," Ina said.

"Wonderful. Shoo – I have to go back to Bazel for some meetings. Boring meetings."

There was a crack as Gwen appeared. There was a tight smile on her lips. "I thought I'd find you here. Fade, Ina, come with me." She didn't really give them a choice in the matter, instead, she chose to grab their wrists at lightning quick speed. They vanished in another bang.


	6. The Truth

The Truth

Gwen and Ina's landing was easy, but Fade, though he remained standing this time, felt distinctly unpleasant. He felt even more unpleasant when he saw who stood nearby: His father. Next to him was a strange woman.

The woman was tall, almost seven feet, and her hair had a strange curl, and was green/gold. Her skin was a pale, pastel color of green, and she wore a silvery veil. She also wore a long, beaded surcoat, which he thought might be made of wool {or some stranger fabric – there was no telling}. As she turned to look at Gwen, he saw the insignia on her surcoat. It was a cobra about to strike. He knew who this was. K'thonya, the famed Gorgon general, and according to Ina, close friends to Gwen. His eyes widened.

K'thonya laughed. Gorgons, or so he had heard, were harsh creatures with bitter outlooks. He'd never actually met one until now, but he'd believed almost every rumor.

"Umm…Hello…" Fade said. Ina was not at all reserved. She flung herself at the Gorgon.

"HI! Guess what? Khalith turned Ben into a cat, and apparently his ego just keeps getting bigger – I wonder if there's a spell to prevent that? Oh, and I saw an Orc on one of the main roads. It had the strangest hump on its back. And I'm really, really bored."

Fade sighed, and muttered, "I used to think she was normal…" Beside him, Gwen chuckled.

"What's normal?" she asked him. "Specifically, what constitutes as your definition of 'normal' referring to Ina."

"Er…Tell you later…" Fade said.

"What did you want us for?" Ina asked, releasing K'thonya. She floated into the air to sit upside down and revolved slowly.

"First of all, quit imitating Gwen. Second, you and Fade need to sit down. Then we'll explain," Draug said. He didn't look as shaken as he had the last Fade had seen him.

With a shrug, Fade obeyed. Ina obeyed as well, but with severe reluctance.

Gwen began to pace, her eyes and manner agitated. "It seems your creature from the Pit – called, in my original world, 'The Beast', and seen as an object of evil, has focused its attentions on you Inanna. That being said, your presence endangers anyone, anywhere." She gave a soft sigh and shut her eyes, "I regret that I should ever have to say this, but I would be powerless if I tried to fight it."

"But how?" cried Ina, crossing her arms furiously, "How could it focus on me? How come you can't stop it? You're a Creator Star! You're more powerful than the entire Underworld put together!"

Gwen held up a hand, "If you remember, according to Asteria's Fourth Law, every being with magical power has a specific affinity to an element. In my case, I have two affinities – rare, but not unheard of. Mind and Fire. It seems that this Beast shares my affinity for Fire, and it was created by several of the Rogue Stars, one of which Yathrine destroyed last year. My powers, strong as they are, are not strong enough to unravel the work of four Creator Stars. It requires someone the Beast has focused on."

"If you can't defeat it, I highly doubt I could. You're being ridiculous, Gwen."

"Wait," Gwen snapped, "There is more." She paused, than spoke again, "It is because it has focused on you, because it wants you, that you would have the power to overcome it. You would need help of course, but I'm quite sure that Nei could help. So could your friend Fade. Perhaps even that ridiculous Mihi could be of use – if that Beast hasn't Unmade her and the whole Underworld." She saw shock pass the girl's face, and said quietly, "No one ever told you how the beast was captured?"

"No…"

"It took an alliance of three women and some ridiculously foppish vampire. One of the women was Nei, another was Hecate – Mihi's mother. Nobody knows who the third was, save that she vanished immediately after. If Mairiel and Halinor's suspicions are correct, she may have been a half-demon."

Ina blinked, "What about the vampire?"

"He stalked me when I was eleven, but that's a bit too much to talk about – let's just say he is stuck at fourteen forever and is totally annoying."

Ina sighed, "So what am I supposed to do?"

"We are going to wipe all your magical traces from our world, 'thonya and I. You and Fade – should he feel like accompanying you – will go off-world to Earth. I think I can bully my Aunt into taking you for a few weeks while I have Mair take a look at the past."

"Joy," Ina muttered, scowling, "Why can't we just zap it or…or…prevent it from existing? Or maybe feed it to S'argt…"

"Because it's hard," Gwen snapped, "And I believe it has taken the Underworld, in which case, it has the ability to come after you or to send others after you."

"Wonderful. Any other cheerfully morose news you wish to share with me?"

"Not really," Gwen said.

"So, so, so lucky for us," Ina grumbled. "Why don't you get a group of Stars as powerful as you to help Unmake the thing?"

"Because other than Yathrine and me, the rest have run amuck with their magics."

Draug stepped into the conversation now, "Ina, is there any reason that a woman with purple hair would be showing up outside the chamber?"

Fade and Ina looked at each other and chorused, "Pride."

"What?" Draug asked.

"Pride. She's my grandmother, unfortunately, and she hates me. She'd be a willing follower to that thing," Ina said.

"She's your grandmother?" Fade asked.

Ina didn't respond. A burst of pink magic shielded the two as the doors burst open. The adults had leaped back, and shifted. Draug had shifted to his werewolf form. K'thonya had sprung two swords from somewhere, and Gwen was on fire. Fade yelled, but Ina just shook her head.

Pride walked towards them, her battleaxe raised, a helmet attached to her armor. "Hello, Inanna." She ignored the rest. Gwen tossed a ball of fire, but the axe absorbed it. "Tell your guardians to stand down – I have no qualms about killing them. I have no qualms about killing you, but Slade and his new pet monster want a bit of fun with you first."

Ina recoiled in disgust, "Slade controls that thing?" she squeaked. "Yuck!" She walked forward now, slowly. A shimmer coated her body in silver, and than she was different.

Instead of the jeans and tank top she had been wearing previously, she was dressed in a Victorian styled gown of black silk, which ended above her knees. Over that was a longer skirt in approximately a half-circle, more of a train than anything. Her hair had somehow come undone, and there was a crown of bone on her head. In her hand was a part-trident, part-staff, and both ends glowed.

Pride smiled, "So, that fool is dead."

Ina glared fiercely at Pride, her hand clenching tighter on the staff.

"The brat does not know how to use its power!" Pride gloated, laughing.

Ina slammed the staff towards Pride, screaming the first thing that popped into her head, "SHUT UP!"

A wave of rose energy flew towards Pride, but she ducked it, a small frown touching her face.

Ina stared at Pride, stared at the staff. She thought the words at Pride, but to no avail – so she whispered it, thrusting it towards Pride once more. It moved languidly, and Pride merely stepped out of the way, laughing.

* * *

It seemed to go on forever, but in actuality, they had only been fighting a half hour when Ina managed to stop Pride.

"FREEZE! SHUT UP! FREEZE! FREEZE!" Ina screamed in rapid succession. Pride dodged the first three, but the fourth hit her dead center. In an instant, an icy enclosure sprung up about her, stopping her in the act of getting to her feet. It formed into a solid cube of ice.

Gwen raised her eyebrows as Ina slumped to the floor, "Nice work. Think of that a bit sooner next time, please."

"I'll try," Ina mumbled, "Can we go 'fore she gets out of it?"

"Of course," Gwen said. She prodded Fade, "Do you wish to go with Ina?"

"Erm…Sure…" Fade said. He wasn't at all sure that he wanted to, but he'd rather not be around Pride when she got out of the icy prison.

Gwen dragged Fade to Ina and linked their hands. Placing her hand on top, her eyes glowed bright green, and she muttered a spell. He felt the all too familiar feeling of being transported somewhere by magic.

"Well, now that they're gone, would you mind freezing her, 'thonya? I don't like the idea of leaving her around to go after them," Draug said.

K'thonya nodded and removed her veil. She crossed over to Pride as Gwen melted the ice. Pride fell gasping, and made the mistake of looking in K'thonya's eyes.

"I think she might make a wonderful statue for an art museum in your world, Gwen," the gorgon said, and vanished.


	7. Rose Street

Rose Street

It was a calm day in late July. On Rose Street, Elizabeth Tennyson was half-asleep in her back yard.

The last fourteen years had not been kind: Where her hair had once been gold, it had gone steadily grey. Her skin was rather creased, and she resembled women far older than her forty seven years of age. This was due, in part, to her remaining family's waywardness, a raging temper, and the deaths of her husband, brother-in-law, and twin sister.

A loud crack removed all traces of sleep from her, and she sat bolt upright, heart pounding. She wondered who it was: Her niece, her son, or the thing that had killed her husband, back for her?

Grabbing the gun she had kept loaded since her husband's death, she stalked towards the back door. She was afraid, terrified, but she would fight this time.

Peering through the glass door, she let out a breath of relief. It was two children. One of them was dressed in the most peculiar style, admittedly, and had several long cuts across her legs – visible from Liz's point of view -, not to mention silver hair. The boy looked relatively normal, though she saw fangs.

"H-hello?" she said. There was still that ever present stutter to her breezy voice, but it was still better than it had been.

The children twisted to see her. The girl, she noticed, had pink eyes. "Are you 'Liz'?" the girl asked.

"Y-yes."

"Oh good. Gwen sent us to you, but her teleporting spells are wrong so often…" the girl trailed off, shaking her head. "Fade, will you get off me?"

"Sorry," Fade – the boy – yelped, obeying.

They stood up now. "I'm Ina, he's Fade," the girl – Ina – told Liz. "I think Gwen wants us to stay here or something…"

"She would," Liz muttered, devoid of stutter when she talked to herself.

A moment later, Gwen appeared. "Hello, Auntie." She kissed Liz's cheek. "They need to stay with you for a while – there are a few problems at home right now."

Liz smiled, "Y-you used to c-call Earth home, but y-you've moved on now."

Gwen smiled at her aunt, "I know. I'm going to set up wards for you. That okay?"

For answer, Liz nodded. Gwen glowed green, lips moving. No one heard the words she uttered, though Ina knew what they would be.

"W-well, I'll sh-show you w-where y-you're supposed to sleep," Liz stammered, beckoning at Fade and Ina. They followed her into the living room, where a mahogany door stood. She opened it and led them through, into another living room. "I-it's a family duplex, s-see? Y-you two can ch-choose rooms." She scurried through the door and out to the backyard again to resume – attempt to resume, rather – her nap.

"Weird," Ina said to Fade, after she'd shut the door. He nodded agreement. "Wanna look around?" He nodded, again.

Despite the fact that this half of the duplex was as clean as the other, it didn't look lived in. When they glanced in the kitchen cupboards, there was nothing. Nothing in the refrigerator either.

"I wonder why no one lives here?" Ina mused as they opened the door to one of the bedrooms. The bedroom was painted pink. Several pictures hung on the walls, and more sat on a small, cluttered bedside table.

Ina peered at one. "Oh my god. Fade, look! It's Gwen as a teenager, and…I think that's Koto, and Sarah. Oh! Ben and Risa are in there too, and so is K'thonya. There's even one of Gwen's grandpa!"

"Creepy," was Fade's response, "I wonder who lived in here?"

"Sarah," Gwen said, appearing next to them. Fade yelped, and Ina jumped.

"She did?" the demon girl asked.

"Yes. Well, this was her room when Koto, Risa, and she moved in at least."

"They moved in?"

"Uh-huh. They moved in after my parents were murdered and I just had half the house to myself." Gwen's eyes half-closed, remembering. "I know I had a death wish. I mean, two raccoon-demons and a dragon queen, both with half the universe after them, not to mention my cousin? Totally equals a death wish."

"Ok….Where's your old room?"

"Downstairs: Koto's room is next to mine, and Risa's is next to this one."

After a final look around the room, Ina dragged Fade to the next room. It was not Risa's room. Instead, it seemed to have belonged to Gwen's parents. There was a picture of their wedding.

"Oh wow! She looks just like Gwen, doesn't she?" Ina gasped. There were a few baby pictures of Gwen, which Ina giggled over. The last picture in the room showed Gwen and Ben at eleven, standing next to an old man, holding their fingers in peace signs.

They moved on, somewhat creeped out by the way every room had been kept looking exactly the same as it would have looked occupied.

The next room was Risa's – a person Fade had not met yet. Upon entry, Ina laughed. "This is so Risa's room!"

Fade was taking her word for it. Almost every square inch of the walls was taken up with pictures of Ben, Gwen, Koto, Sarah, or strange dragons and elves, and essays on the strangest topics with 'A+'/'100%' written on them. What wall was visible appeared to be bright blue.

They left that room alone as well, and walked downstairs. There was another living space down there, and they went into one of the rooms. It was quite plain, compared to the ones upstairs.

After some searching, Ina found a picture of Gwen – just Gwen – framed. It was sitting on a bookshelf in the room, hidden. "Koto's room," she pronounced. "He's totally in love with her – he's the only one who'd hide her picture." Some more searching procured a picture of Gwen with her arms draped around Koto's neck, laughing. He, of course, was bright red.

"Very cute," Ina giggled. The one other picture in the room was of Gwen and Sarah.

"I have one question," Fade began as they went to look in Gwen's room, "why do Koto and his sister have tails?"

"They're raccoon demons. It's weird. They come from another world, which was destroyed. Gwen accidentally revived their planet a few years ago, and they left Earth and the Realms to visit. Anyhow, they're half-demon. In Koto's case, the demonic blood is far stronger than his sister's because he got bitten by your father a few years ago – you would've been five at the time. It shows through his eyes, which are red. The tails and ears –yeah, they have ears, but usually you can't see those – are from both their parents. Their world was made up of people who have tails and ears, though it varies. Some are, like, rabbits, or…iguanas, or foxes. Sarah and Koto are raccoons."

"Um….weird…"

Ina had to use a spell to open Gwen's door. The room was very plain. There were no pictures, no books, and it looked rather dusty. A spell cleared the dust, but no matter how obsessively Ina looked, there was nothing. After an hour, she gave up on finding anything and wandered out to the living room, where Fade had flopped onto the couch.

"Nothing in there," Ina sighed. "Gwen showed up to say how long we'll be here?"

"She hasn't," Fade said, shrugging.

Hours later, the displaced teens were asleep, Fade on the couch, Ina sprawled messily over two armchairs.


	8. Break

Break

Gwendolyn Tennyson was commonly referred to as an enigma. She puzzled people, frightened them, and more often than not, saved their lives. She lived alone these days in a large tower in the mountains that were the border between Lycanth and the Dragon Realms. She was there now, but with company.

She sat in an elegant study, crammed floor to ceiling with books, pouring wine into two lovely glass chalices, eyes never straying from her silver scrying bowl. "Koto," she said, voice soft, "I have a favor to ask."

"What?" asked the man sitting across from her.

Gwen tore her eyes away from the bowl, ordering herself not to blush. It was very hard. She looked Koto over before she spoke. He had been her friend for thirteen years, and she had had a crush on him for twelve. They were both stuck at the physical age of twenty-three, her because of magic, him because of how his species was made. Out of all her friends, even her closest, he was the one she turned to when she was afraid (a rare occurrence), hurt (even rarer), or if she just needed to talk (rarest of all – this was the second time). He normally went around in a long, flowing black shirt, tucked into his equally large black pants. The shirt was off, and despite herself, she blushed. It was hard not to – he was, after all, a fighter, and very muscular. It was too hot in her study not to be dressed lighter than one would normally dress, since even with the windows open, breeze refused to come in. She was normally clothed from neck to feet in robes, or at least clothed so modestly that it was hard to believe she could move. In here, she wore an airy, ethereal silver gown, split from the waist down for movement, sleeveless, clingy, and easily stirred by even a breath.

Gwen took a breath, moving her eyes to his face, and leaned forward. "You know Ina, and you know Draug's son, Fade. You also know of the Beast."

Koto nodded, waiting. Gwen would explain where this would lead, he knew. One of the things anybody learned when they were friends with Gwen, was that she always explained.

Steeling herself, Gwen said, "The Beast was loosed this evening by an enemy of Life. I am not sure whom exactly, but the Beast has destroyed the Nine and taken over the Underworld. Several of the students at the Academy escaped, the rest are held as prisoners and hostages to keep their families quiescent." She breathed in, about to tell him what she need him to do, when a stabbing pain slammed into her. She went dead white and rigid.

Koto watched, eyes worried, as she seemed to stop breathing for a moment, which dragged on, and on, and then Gwendolyn Tennyson screamed. Her eyes glowed, every part of her glowed a brilliant emerald, and she stumbled upright, stumbled to the window, and flung it open. Koto saw red coming from the pass leading to the Underworld, far in the east, the pass glowing. Gwen threw her hands out, grabbing the air, and flung all the magic she could gather into the spell. The red died down, out for the moment, and she crumpled.

Koto had started up when she went to the window, and as she crumpled, he caught her. "Gwen," he said, than he said it again, more anxious. His eyes flickered between the normal light red and a deep scarlet as he held half his self off.

Gwen coughed, and he felt relief as she stirred. She was just unconscious from exertion. Carefully, he hefted her, standing up, and walked a well-practiced route out of the study and to her room. "You know, Gwen," he told her unconscious form, "You really know how to scare your friends. I'd bet you anything that Ben and Risa saw the green and are flying this way to find out just what you were doing. After the Suicide Spell, they aren't taking any chances, even Ben." He chuckled, "'thonya has a much more practical view. She'll just hit you over the head with a sword the next time she sees you and berate you for being an idiot." Grimly, he added, "I think that you need defenses against your mind being invaded. You should be up before the thing is, so you'll be able to implement them, but be careful." He opened her door and walked through, placing her on the bed. He twitched a blanket over her and sat down. "I'll wait for you." A small smile crossed his face, and he reached out to brush her hair away from her face. "I always will."

* * *

Benjamin Tennyson and Chandrisa Silvermoon, King and Queen of the Dragon Realms, saw the light. They looked at each other and chorused a simple, "Gwen," and returned to their work. He was reviewing reports from agents in the Underworld, she was reviewing reports of the movements of their enemies.

"Honey, the Orcs have been moving in again," Risa said, putting down one sheet with a tired yawn.

"The Beast has been freed by the apprentice to Lust. It slaughtered the Nine Devils, and Slade – the apprentice – has taken over the city. They speculate that the motive was Inanna," Ben said, looking across at her. "Feel the spell Gwen's using. She's trying to make it sleep, and she's failing."

Risa let her head fall into her hands. "If Gwen can fail against it, how in the name of Athiyk* are we ever going to put it to rest again?" she whispered.

"I don't know," Ben said, setting his reports down. He stood, walking around the two desks, to hug his wife. As he felt the spell die down, he added, "She weakened it enough to stop whatever it tried to do just then, but she couldn't stop it."

Risa gave a small, sad smile, "And we always thought she was invincible."

"Evidently not," Ben murmured. "Let's hope Koto's with her. She'll need someone with some common sense around after that."

Risa laughed and stood up. "Let's talk to 'thonya about those Orcs. We may not be able to do anything about that thing yet, but we can keep it from getting a foothold in our kingdom."

Ben wrapped an arm around his wife, and they exited the study, in the close proximity that had always defined their relationship.

* * *

K'thonya'a'killen'aherma was drilling the guards of the Royal family of the Dragon Realms when they saw the light. Shading her eyes, she halted the practice as they watched the green expand and contract. When it died away, she turned to them, her face smoother than stone behind the veil she wore. Her snakes, bundled out of the way in a hair net, wiggled around to watch the guard.

"What was that?" asked one of the half-Naga guards, K'thonya's half-sister, Graille.

"That is the sign of a change in the world," K'thonya said, her voice soft. "That is the sign of Gwendolyn Tennyson only partially winning." She sighed, "That is also a spell that once laid the doom of the worlds to rest. It worked with three powerful females, one powerful male. A Creator does not have the power to stop what four Creators made, only enough to buy us time. There will be war soon."

Graille looked at her formidable, icy older sister, and said the only thing she could think of, "Tell Karashean you love him."

K'thonya looked at her sister blankly.

"Tell him," Graille said. "He ought to know, and besides, if the world ends, if he doesn't feel the same, at least you won't suffer long."

K'thonya smacked her forehead. "Graille, that is one of the greatest non-sequiturs in the history of the universe."

Graille stuck her tongue out childishly, and the other guards laughed. War wasn't much cause for worry. Their commander losing her cool, now that wasn't worrying, it was just cause for laughter.

* * *

Far, far to the east, on a barren plain, in an old, crumbling fortress, a burly man with red eyes and claws finished packing his bag. Nothing was left here for him except bad memories and dead friends. His one living friend who was right here, right now, was crying again. Patting the large shadow demon on the shoulder, Karashean said, "It's alright Ikki. It wasn't your fault they escaped. We have to let them know, though." He smiled, ever so slightly, "Look at it this way – you'll get to spend time with Sarah."

Ikki stopped crying, though he still gave a few dry sobs. "Master Karashean spends time with pretty miss K'thonya too?" he asked. He wasn't very good with speech, but he was one of the sweetest creatures alive.

Karashean blushed and fiddled with the bag. "Um, yeah." He stared as he saw the green light. "That's gotta be Gwen. What is that girl doing? It has to be from her house, and that's three years away by foot!"

Ikki gulped nervously and gave a short answer, "Lady Gwen fighting Beast."

Karashean paled. "The Evil of the worlds personified," he breathed. "Kiroto will have gone to him." He looked at Ikki. "Let's go."

A flash of gold later, the castle was deserted.

Omnia sat with her husband, her uncle, her aunt, her nephew, and her nephew's girlfriend, watching the light.

"You realize we're going to have one heck of a time fighting this off," she told her uncle.

"I know, Nia," Hex said, leaning forward, "But since when haven't we had impossible odds?"

"We always have them," Drathir, Hex's wife, answered, with a grin.

Aiden and Hali gave the reckless grins all teenagers have mastered. "Let's go talk to Risa," Hali said. She stroked the bandolier she wore and watched her boyfriend.

"It's time for another fun council of what-the-hell-do-we-do-now," S'argt and Aiden chorused, and they all laughed.

Moments later, they had vanished, and a maid came in to clean up.

* * *

Draug wrapped his arm around Crest's shoulders as they watched the lights dim down from his balcony. Crest licked her lips. "We're going to have a war on our hands," she said. It wasn't a question.

"Yes."

She kissed him, because she'd always wanted to do it, and had never had the chance, or a reason to fear not having a chance, before.

* * *

At a small school in the human world, two battered and bleeding teenagers sat on a bed, being treated by another girl.

"So Slade betrayed you all," the girl said. "Koru, what are you going to do about it? You, Lucky, and Mihi got out, but what about the others?"

"There is going to be war in that world soon," Koru said. He held his arm around Lucky's waist – she was unconscious. Mihi was draped across the other bed in the dorm room, asleep. "We came here because you were the only one we could go to, Syth."

Syth rocked back on her heels. "Maybe it can't be defeated, maybe it can," she told him, "But you know, I think that if four people did it last time, what if you got every single one of the powerful people of our time involved – what would happen?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "Yeah, there'll be real, non-magical armies marching. No law says that with some bombs, swords, and more than a little magic that we can't help."

"You and Naginata would help us save our other friends?" he whispered.

"Of course, silly! Herve will help too – he's better than ten mages, because he has brains and common sense," Syth said, smiling. She waved a hand over Koru's face, mending his nose. "There, you and Lady Luck are all better. Go to sleep with your girlfriend."

"She's not – " he started to say, and then closed his mouth. "If we live through this insanity, I might ask her out. It's too soon though."

Syth smiled and shoved her blue and pink hair behind her shoulders. "I know."

* * *

In the Underworld, Slade watched his monster lose consciousness, for the time being. He scowled. "Well, you are going to get stronger," he addressed it. "Even if you did just knock Tennyson out, you can't be losing it every time you clash with her. I want this damn world, and you're going to get it for me."

And somewhere, sometime, someone laughed in a way that set the universe's teeth on edge.

*-Athiyk is one of the deities in the faith of the Dragon peoples.


	9. Regularly Scheduled Programming

"We Now Return To Our Regularly Scheduled Program..."

Ina woke up around noon in a strange place and flailed. She upset her delicate balance on the armchairs and fell to the floor, where she lay for a moment, stunned momentarily. Groggy still, she mumbled, "Hello, mister floor." It took her a full minute to realize what she had said, and where she was, and then she forced herself into a sitting position. She found Fade with her magic. He was upstairs, in the kitchen on Liz's side of the duplex. She stood and dragged herself upstairs, feeling very old.

"Hi Ina!" Fade said.

"Need coffee," Ina muttered, and found a cup pressed into her hands by her far too cheerful werewolf friend. She drank it in one gulp, unflinching, and in a much more awake tone of voice, informed him, "That coffee could kill people, it's so strong."

Fade beamed at her, "I know! Hungry?"

"More like curious," Ina said. "Why are you so cheerful? Where is Liz? Is Gwen going to come back? Is there any news?"

"No news," Fade said, "Liz is out back, Gwen hasn't shown, and I am cheerful because there is lots of food here, and Liz is perfectly fine financing my appetite for awhile!"

Ina laughed despite herself, and stretched. "This dress is annoying," she said. "And the coronet thing doesn't want to come off." She frowned, "Grandfather..." Shaking her head, she scowled, clenching her hands, off her relapse to cheerful. "Pride's dead, at least."

"Yeah..."

Shrugging, Ina dredged up a spell. A small wave of pink, and her clothing reverted to normal, a purple tank top and jeans. "Well, that's one hell of a useful spell," she drawled. Carefully, she tugged the refrigerator open, and looked around. "Ok, there's cold pizza in here," she said, and pulled it out. "No idea what's on it, but I'm going to eat it."

Fade laughed. "I smell anchovies and other odd things."

Ina shrugged and tugged the box open, shoving pizza into her mouth. She chomped through it, talking through the food. "So, how long've you been up?"

"About four hours," Fade said, pointing at the microwave clock. "I have an inner alarm," he said smugly.

Ina stuck her tongue out, "Oh, shut up."

"As you wish," Fade said, with a mocking bow.

Ina glared and grabbed the nozzle from the sink-sprayer-thing. She turned it on, blasting Fade with cold water. He gasped, and grabbed the nozzle from the other sink, blasting her with it.

Liz looked in the kitchen and decided to leave the teens and their water fight alone. Ignoring the laughter and squeals that permeated the house, she went back to bed.

Once they had both been thoroughly soaked, the two teens reluctantly faced the task of actually dealing with the water everywhere. Fade, after a moment, used a spell to collect all the water as a giant orb, which he sent somewhere (he honestly wasn't sure where).

(While giving an interview, a globe of water exploded over Dick Cheney's head. The tabloids decided it was proof of intelligent life on other planets.)

"We're crazy, aren't we?" Ina asked, using a spell to dry her clothes.

"We're teenagers – of course we are," he replied, doing the same.

Ina giggled and rummaged in the fridge again, "Ooo, cheese!" She tugged the package out and began to peel the plastic off each piece of cheese. Once she'd done that with the whole package, she began shoveling the cheese into her mouth.

"You must really like cheese," Fade muttered as the pile disappeared.

Ina nodded.

Shaking his head amusedly, Fade wandered off to explore this side of the house.

Ina went back to the other side of the duplex and took some random books from one of the rooms. She sprawled out on the couch and lost herself in Jane Austen novels, which she didn't fully understand, but found amusing. When she looked up from [i]Sense and Sensibility[/i], she was startled to find that, according to the clock, it was almost four P.M. She shut the novel and went looking for Fade. She found him downstairs, staring at a girl she didn't recognize.

"Um…hey…?" Ina said, pausing in the doorway.

The girl, who boasted nothing more extraordinary than a height of about seven feet and a spiky iron fan, smiled at her. "You're Ina, right?" she asked.

"Yeah…Should I know you?" Ina asked, coming to stand next to Fade.

"I doubt it. I'm Naginata – my friend Lucky told me-"

"Lucky got away!" Ina cheered. "Did she say anything about Koru and Mihi?"

"Koru and Mihi are both in my friend Syth's dorm at our school," Naginata said, rolling her eyes slightly. "Koru and Lucky are currently asleep on the same bed, and neither of them realizes that Syth and Mihi are taking blackmail pictures."

"Classy," Ina commented.

Naginata yelped slightly as a ball of flashing blue fire appeared in the midst of the three of them, but relaxed as it formed into a three-dimensional image of a harassed looking girl with long blue hair that ended in pink tips. "Nagina," she said, "Can you get your butt back here and help me rescue Koru from the welcome wagon?"

"What welcome wagon?" Naginata asked.

"The only one that locks you in closets with creepy people."

"Oh. Sissi strikes again, I see," Naginata said.

"Oh – wait." Syth's picture paused, and than winced. "Owwwww. Lucky just knocked Sissi out with my math book."

Ina giggled, attracting the picture!Syth's attention.

"Oh, who are you?" she asked curiously.

"I'm Ina, and that does sound like Lucky," the half-demon replied.

"Oh, good. Can you stop her from murdering Sissi? I don't need murder committed in my bedroom. It would spoil the decorations."

"I can take you," Naginata offered. Ina nodded, and the two vanished.

Fade, alone and forgotten in the room, came to a brilliant and profound conclusion. "Oh shit, they left me here."

Fade was helped to arrive at Syth's dorm by picture!Syth, where he found a confused scene. Ina was holding a struggling Lucky apart from a shrinking girl with long black hair. Koru was sitting in a chair looking confused. Naginata had pinned a blonde boy to the wall with her fan, and said blonde boy was being watched by a geeky boy with black hair. Syth was poking the remnants of her lamp.

"I don't want to know, do I?" he asked.

"Probably not," Syth said. She had pointed ears, which were swiveling back and forth. "Oh crap," she yelped, and waved a hand. Immediately, they felt themselves becoming invisible, and before the spell had fully taken hold, Fade noticed the blonde boy and the black-haired girl being knocked out.

The door opened, and a tall man who was preceded by his stomach walked in. "Sythandra Jones, what was that noise I heard a few minutes ago?" he boomed. "You know that explosives are banned!"

"I was not exploding anything!" Syth protested, crossing her arms across her chest and pouting. "My lamp just fell over, that was all."

The man looked around, suspicious, but found nothing to discredit her lie. Her lamp was indeed on the ground.

"Very well," he grumbled. "See to it that it isn't broken." He stomped out of the room, slamming the door shut.

At once, the people who weren't supposed to be in there became visible.

"I'll remove the memories," Ina said, waving her hand at the unconscious humans. Thin strands of silver drifted to her hand, and then vanished.

Syth flicked her hand, and the random people disappeared again. "They're back in their rooms. They'll wake up without a clue in a few hours."

"Good," Lucky said, arms folded across her chest.

Ina hugged Lucky. "I am glad some of you escaped. What exactly happened?"

"Sit down," Lucky said, sighing, "Because it's a long story."

Obediently, Ina sat.

"See, it began around noon…"


	10. Pride Sucks

Pride Sucks

Lucky was studying with Koru and Mihi when they first heard the rumbling. They rushed out of Lucky's dorm and followed the noise to the Abyss, and discovered a giant red hand.

Mihi latched on to Lucky's arm. "That's what Lord Satan said grabbed Ina!" she squeaked.

Lucky and Koru looked at each other. Both knew that they were incapable of fighting this thing. Suddenly, Koru pointed. "Isn't that Slade?" he hissed.

The girls looked, and sure enough, saw the white-haired fifteen year-old riding on the head of a monster.

"We're getting out of here," Lucky decided.

"Amen," Koru agreed.

"What about everyone else?" Mihi demanded as she tried to keep up with the running teenagers.

A piercing scream cut the air. The three turned and saw Satan's corpse land headless on the bridge, and then roll of and vanish. Pride was bowing to the Beast, and Lust was off to the side, useless and sobbing. Of all the Sins, she had been Satan's closest companion (in all meanings of the term…)

Lucky and Koru didn't waste any more time. They had been surrounded by strange creatures made from the stone surrounding them.

"Mihi, just hold your power ready," Koru ordered, "Lucky, like in class?"

Lucky nodded, and swept a whip of poisoned fire out of thin air. Her school clothes seemed to run together into a tight suit. Koru merely folded his hands and the creatures began to crumble.

Fiery creatures emerged, and Lucky destroyed them with ease. The two young adults* slammed wave after wave of power into the opponents they faced, losing power.

It took them almost a full day, but finally the Beast must have decided that the three were dead. Mihi sat in the middle of a circle of destruction, huddled and confused and tired.

"C'mon, honey. We've gotta get outta here," Lucky said. "Koru – you're sneakier than me. See if you can figure out if anyone's coming."

Koru nodded and shut his eyes. A moment later, they re-opened. "Everyone's been either killed, or herded into…into slave pens."

"Mihi, you're fully charged as far as power goes. Can you pop us out of here?" Lucky met her young, demonic friend's eyes.

Mihi nodded. "We have to get to a different place – I can't do it with the wards here."

"I'll carry you," Lucky said, offering a piggyback ride to the girl. Mihi clung to the tall woman's back.

They wandered back to one of the areas where there were no wards, dodging odd patrols of strange creatures.

"Here," Lucky hissed. "Quick!"

Mihi built the spell quickly, hiding it. They slammed out of Hell.

*

Sythandra Jones jumped. The test tube she'd held above her head shattered and doused her hair. Swiftly, her hair changed colors – from carroty to pink and blue.

She turned, ready to yell at whoever had interrupted her, but deflated when she saw the two battered adults, her friends, and the small daemon teen they supported.

"What happened?" she demanded of Lucky. "I thought you said it was safe!"

"It wasn't. Remember Slade?"

Syth nodded.

"He betrayed everyone. He brought the Beast back," Koru said, his deep voice not able to mask his anger.

"He did what?" Syth hissed, too surprised to be loud.

"Brought the Beast back," Mihi mumbled from between them.

Syth peered at the girl. "She's unharmed, just upset," she informed her friends.

"Good," they chorused.

"Lucky, I'll deal with you first, since you have four broken ribs, and your side is bleeding."

"Oh, so that's why I feel so dizzy," Lucky said, sitting obediently in the chair Syth gestured her to. The strange teenager waved a hand that glowed blue and pink over Lucky's side. For a moment, bone became visible. Syth, peering intently, maneuvered the bones back into place, wrapping them with magic to heal. The magic sank into the bone, and with a crack, each bone became whole again. She used magic to 'stitch' up Lucky's side, and floated her over to the spare bed. "Just stretch out, I'll heal Koru over there too."

Lucky smiled and fell asleep within seconds. Koru sat next to her, and talked with Syth while she healed his injuries, all less critical than Lucky's.

"Well, you won't need to sleep like she does," Syth said as she finished. "But I'd still recommend it."

"I'll go to sleep in a few," Koru said, "But I'll unbraid her hair first."

"Unbraid – what…?" Syth yelped.

"What? I'm just unbraiding her hair. She has a chain braided in there, you know, to make it a weapon. She could kill herself in her sleep with it. So I'm unbraiding it."

"Ok…" Syth said, smothering a giggle as she watched Koru dismantle Lucky's hairstyle. Her jaw dropped when he unwound a chain from underneath her hair. "She really does that…Oh wow."

"Scary, I know," Koru said absently, still playing with his best friend's hair.

"You two make such a cute couple," Syth giggled.

"Oh, shut up," he muttered, blushing.

* - Koru and Lucky are in the Eighth Form, which essentially means that they are twenty or twenty-one years old at the time of the story. They are both twenty-one, and, if it weren't for this 'interruption' of the Beast, would be done with the Academy in a year. Why yes, I have put WAY too much thought into this.


	11. LeadUp

Lead-up

Ina fell out of the chair with a thud, and spent several seconds staring at the carpet trying to figure out where she was. It took a while for her tired brain to catch up. Shaking her head, she used the dresser to stand up, and collapsed against the wall for a moment, then staggered out into the hall.

Once she reached what served as the showers of the boarding school, Ina discarded her borrowed nightgown and turned one on. The freezing water served as a catalyst for waking up, and when she returned to her dorm room for a clothing raid, she was more awake.

"What should I wear?" she murmured, shuffling through the drawers filled by a hasty shopping spree and some interesting summoning magic. It had been Syth's idea to use magic and hacking to enroll them at her school for the time being, and Lucky had used the fortune her mother had left her to furnish clothing for the group.

"We could have some sort of Displaced Demons home," the half-demon muttered, and stared at the reflection in the mirror included with each dorm room. She looked like a weirdo, but somehow managed to blend in with the various people who dyed their hair. At this point, she was considering dying her hair. She'd had at least five people in the past three days ask if she was a witch. "I'm telling the next one that I am," she growled, "See what they do."

"You're up, good," Mihi said, appearing in the room. She spun, showing off what she'd been up to. Her hair was not only chopped off in a neat little bob, she'd dyed it pink. Her clothing was a pink skirt that left only a little to the imagination, and her top might classify as decent. The best thing that could be said about the outfit was that she wasn't wearing stripper heels.

Ina raised her eyebrows at the other girl, and pulled on a white something. Syth had told her it was the latest fashion, and judging by the amount of these sweater-things on the campus, she'd had to agree. She just didn't think the person who had made these things had actually planned on there being a season called winter in France. It bared her stomach, and the skirt wasn't much better. At least she had leggings and boots. Everything but the sweater was black.

Linking arms, they dashed downstairs and out the door. They braved the cold for exactly thirty seconds in a headlong run, which sent them flying through the cafeteria doors and on a seven second skid to the wall. Laughing breathlessly, Ina and Mihi got in the line behind another group they had noticed at the school. They'd been there for three weeks, and had gotten everyone figured out.

"…still saying, we do need to check on Lyoko every now and then," Ulrich Stern said.

None of the four noticed as the girls raised eyebrows at each other.

"Well, we're not going to hear about whether we go back to the factory or not until Einstein gets out of his room," Odd drawled. "Thanks Rosa!" He almost danced off to his table.

"How does he eat that stuff?" Ina asked. "There is no way he can be that skinny."

"Odd is a human garbage disposal," Yumi told her, looking back. "Sooner or later, everyone figures it out. You're one of the new- how on earth is she wearing that?"

"Mihi? Oh. She's just really weird. Three weeks ago, she wouldn't have been caught dead in the middle of nowhere with that shirt on, now she's coerced her mom into getting her a whole wardrobe of them."

"Doesn't notice when she's being talked about, I see," Yumi snickered.

Ina rolled her eyes. "She's staring at a teacher's butt and having weird daydreams. I've only known her three years, but…" She shook her head. "Never, ever ask her what she's thinking about. You'll be scarred for life. I'm Ina, if you haven't heard from the gossip."

"Yumi, come on," Ulrich cajoled, gesturing at her full tray.

The older girl grinned at the demons and followed.

Ina and Mihi, once they had their food, settled in at a table near the four. They were soon joined by Nagina, who was wide awake, and Syth, who was stabbing the table and claiming it was her sausage. Herve joined them after a while – he was Syth's boyfriend, and he was in on all of it

"Whatcha doing?" Mihi asked Nagina. She'd stopped daydreaming about the teacher after he had left.

"Texting," the senior said shortly. "Koru is awake, Lucky isn't."

Syth grinned. "One-bedroom apartment," she sung sleepily.

"Lucky will kill you if you do that around her," Ina warned, stealing Syth's sausage. She replaced it with the eggs that had been heaped on her plate.

Syth was soon asleep again, using the table as a pillow.

Nagina burst out laughing just as the four beside them were joined by Jeremie Belpois.

"Naginata, what's so funny?" Yumi demanded, leaving the intense discussion to lean over her fellow senior's shoulder.

Nagina couldn't stop laughing to tell her.

Ina swiped the cell phone from her friend's grasp and smirked. "Well, well. I guess that's one way of solving awkwardness."

"What is?" Yumi asked.

"Accidentally getting in the shower with each other," Ina cackled.

"Lucky and Koru?" Mihi demanded, snatching the phone. "You're kidding me."

"I can't believe he's telling Nagina about it," Ina said, swiping it back. They looked at a very confused Yumi and giggled. "Sorry. We've got some friends living in an apartment near here. Koru and Lucky. They've been dodging their mutual crush since…how long?"

"Since they met, which was about six years ago," Mihi snorted.

"Evidently the completely unawake Lucky sleepwalked into the shower before Koru could take his shower. He can't turn the water on, because she'll wake up and hit him through the wall, but he can't get out because she's leaning against the door."

Mihi cracked up completely.

A pale hand snagged the phone from Ina's grasp and Fade stared at it. "Is he sure she's sleepwalking? And will someone shut our two cacklers up?"

Yumi shook her head. "I'm getting Jeremie and Aelita together now," she muttered. "They don't need that in three years." She went back to her table.

"We need to start planning something," Fade said, sitting down. "There is no way I can deal with one more jumped-up senior girl hitting on me and asking if I'm in college."

Ina controlled the urge to laugh insanely and managed to bin the urge to hit someone. "Better than being asked if you're an evil witch," she said.

Syth kicked Nagina's leg, and began to snore.

"We should wake her up," Ina said.

Fade found the video capability on Nagina's phone and began to record. "We should," he agreed amiably, watching.

"We can always wake her up when breakfast is over," Nagina said, appropriating Syth's eggs.

Mihi fell off the bench, and didn't stop laughing.

"Isn't there a limit to how long you can laugh?" Ina asked, looking down.

"Yeah, there is," Nagina said.

"Must be a really long one, for her."

Eventually, they just left Mihi rolling on the floor and wheezing so they could go to class.

Ina ignored the teachers in all her classes, instead choosing to concentrate on what could be so important about a factory, and what about a factory could make five people start talking about skipping school. Finally, she excused herself to a teacher, saying she needed to visit the nurse. She'd modify the nurse's memory later; right now, she was going to stalk Odd Della Robbia.

Della Robbia should have been a junior that year, but he'd somehow gotten himself held back as a sophomore. Since they'd lied about Ina's age, she had some classes with him. He'd left only three minutes prior.

Summoning up a tiny piece of magic, Ina became invisible and followed him. He kept on looking over his shoulder as he went down to the boiler room and opened the door. She slipped through ahead of him and followed him down, into the sewer. He took a skateboard and took off on it, and she followed at a jog, and ended up using a small teleportation spell to get out ahead of him. She kept the air pop at a minimum, and then followed him into the factory itself.

He swung down on a rope; she just jumped and landed on her feet, and then followed him into the elevator. They were evidently the last to enter the lab, and Ina stared over the entire thing with the urge to whistle. She was impressed.

"I booted it up to check on it, seems to be good and quiet," Belpois said, and he grinned at Odd. "You're late. What held you up?"

"I could've sworn someone was following me, but no one was," Odd said, and shrugged. "Creepiest thing I've ever had happen to me."

"We should practice on Lyoko, in case," Stern said, leaning against the wall. "It's not that I don't like them, but do Ina, Mihi, and Fade seem normal to you? They just give off weird vibes to me and Yumi."

"He's right," Aelita said. "This morning, after you all had left and I was still in there for a while, Mihi didn't stop laughing. She didn't even pass out or anything. It was really weird."

"Guess we'd better practice then," Jeremie said, "Go down to the scanners and I'll put you there."

Ina followed them out of curiosity, and felt annoyed that a girl with pink hair was calling her friend weird. At least Mihi's natural hair color occurred naturally at some point in a human's life.

She watched Yumi, Ulrich and Odd get into the three scanners, and stared even more when the scanners reopened and nothing was there. Humans had done something strange, and she wanted to know what. That was the reason why she climbed into another scanner, the one opposite Aelita.

"Scanning, Aelita, Transfer, Aelita, Virtualization," Jeremie said.

Ina felt something like wind rushing across her body, and registered Jeremie's voice.

"What the heck? What's- There's two other people! How the heck?" he demanded, almost incoherent.

Then she landed on her feet, across from Aelita, and next to Fade. She had cat ears. "How the-?" she yelped, putting her hand up to touch them.

"Nice cat costume," Fade drawled. "Why so freaked out?"

"It's called the second form, duh. But I've still got my necklace on, so that isn't possible!" Ina said, feeling the choker. "The hell is this place? I didn't think humans had gotten around to accepting stuff like teleportation yet, much less using machines to do it."

"Before we explain anything, I'd really like to know how you got here without us seeing you," Jeremie's voice said.

"Oh, that. Magic," Ina said idly. "You just go invisible. Isn't very hard, little kids can do it. Regular humans can do it just by pretending they don't exist for a few minutes. No one sees them, and they do as they please. They might get recorded on a security camera, but even cameras might not notice someone who doesn't give off any sign of existing."

Yumi's eyes narrowed. "Prove it."

For answer, Ina went invisible.

"Anything else you can do? Not just on Lyoko, I mean, the real world," Odd asked.

"There's a lot. I've got protective wards, I can summon thing...pretty much most of the magic you see going on in your fantasy stories. Beyond that, I'm a half-demon, and a werewolf. Fade's a werewolf too, but he's the prince."

"Hey, you're pretty much the demon queen if you kill the Beast, so you're technically higher than me," Fade drawled.

"Shut up or I'm going to have to find out if the kitchens here have giant spray hoses, and then I'm going to have to get you," Ina threatened.

"I beat you last time," he retorted.

"How long have you been dating?" Odd asked.

They whipped around to face him, Ina going pale and Fade turning red. "WHAT?"

"Dating. You know, going out to movies and stuff, kissing," Odd said, rolling his eyes. "You're a pretty obvious couple."

Ina was stammering incoherently and trying not to hit Odd.

"For someone who goes through girls like food, I think you might want to watch your tongue," Fade growled. "Especially with Ina."

"How do I get off of here?" Ina snarled.

"Devirtualization works," Jeremie's voice said.

"Then get me offa here so I can hit something metal until I don't want to hit someone. His head wouldn't stand one punch," she growled.

"Got it," came the reply, and she vanished in a digital fwoosh!.

"Why watch it with Ina?" Odd asked curiously, evidently not sensing danger.

"Because someone from our old school resurrected something bad, is after her because he's in lust with her, and did I mention he killed the only family member she cared about?" Fade snapped. "Her mother and grandmother are always trying to kill her. Most of the people she cares about adopted her in some form or fashion. Her grandfather died protecting a lot of us in the Underworld, and she's beating herself up because right now we can't do anything but wait for word from my dad and Gwen."

"Sounds like you've got a situation there," Yumi said, covering Odd's mouth. "Why Kadic?"

"Lucky and Koru came to Syth and Nagina," Fade said. It was easier to talk to Yumi. Especially since she hadn't been drooling over Ina. Not that he cared who looked at Ina and who didn't. He didn't care a bit. "When the whole attack happened." He shook his head, feeling tired. "I don't know the particular connections of it all."

"Lucky," Odd said, narrowing his eyes. "What's her last name?"

"Della Ro- Oh. Crap. She your sister or something?"

"Cousin," Odd said. "Oh man is she going to get an earful. I didn't know she was a demon!"

"She's actually human, but don't tell that to her fanboys. They live in fear of her going mad and eating them, so no kidnappings there," Fade said, and shrugged. "I bet she'll give you an earful for not telling her about this." He paused. "Well, that depends on whether or not she and Koru finally hooked up."

"How long have you been waiting, and when do I get to meet Koru?" Odd demanded.

"I've been waiting ever since I met them," Fade said. "They're just one of those really obvious couples. Glancing at each other every five seconds, flipping out if the other person went on a date, that kind of stuff. There was a betting pool at the Academy on when they'd get together. I don't know who'd win if they have."

"Let's get off of here. I want full details. I'm sure it won't be much trouble for your group to meet us back here after lights out," Ulrich said. His lips twitched. "By the way, Fade. Have you taken a good look at your outfit?"

"No. Why?" Fade looked down, and twitched. He twitched again. "Just kill me now," he moaned.

Ulrich obliged by stabbing two swords into him.

Fade lay curled up in the scanner, eyes wide. "Cool, but creepy," he decided, and got out (after checking to make sure he wasn't wearing a leopard print Speedo), and went looking for Ina. He found her sitting next to Jeremie on the floor, beating a piece of metal into something resembling a lunch box, and Jeremie staring at it.

"Having fun?" he asked.

"Yeah," Jeremie said.

"Not particularly," Ina said. "But I'll live."

"We're meeting their group back here after lights out. Think you can get Mihi the news? Yumi'll probably tell Syth and Nagina, though if you can tell them first, great." He scowled. "I'm going to interrupt Koru and Lucky's tryst to tell them. Wish me an unscarred mind."

"You'll probably get your mind scarred anyhow," Ina predicted. "Have fun, and hope they don't accidentally have something recording."

"Cheerful."


	12. It was NOT a tryst!

It was NOT a tryst

Lucky was sprawling on the couch in the crappy apartment she and Koru were renting, and was currently fuming. It wasn't his fault that her subconscious was horny and had gotten her sleepwalking into the shower with him. It was just the fact that he'd been rather glassy-eyed when she woke up that made her realize they'd been in there for a while.

She wasn't sure how to deal with it, and Koru sitting opposite from her looking like a lobster and a tomato didn't help.

The phone rang, and she grabbed it. "Lucky here."

"Hey, Lady Luck," Fade said into the other end. "Having a nice tryst?"

"It's NOT a tryst!" Lucky yelled, and fell on the couch feeling panicky.

"Never mind. You two need to meet us at the factory near Kadic, around eleven tonight. We're meeting another group with a virtual world on which they apparently kicked butt for three years, along with our own group. Not sure how it will go," he said, "But hoping it goes well."

And he hung up.

"We're meeting a bunch of people – our group and another, at eleven, at the abandoned factory," Lucky reported, and buried her face in a pillow.

"What was that about a tryst?" Koru asked.

"Fade thought we were having a tryst," Lucky mumbled, and buried her face further. "You've got twenty minutes to make it to work on time."

"I can teleport easily," he replied. "Lucky, this is more than just the sleepwalking or Fade's innuendo. You lash out at people. You don't huddle in pillows snarling at people. What's going on?"

"Maybe you don't know me like you think you do, especially if you haven't figured out why. Six years, Koru." She stood up, swung her braid down. Her face wasn't tearstained. She was very pale, and very angry. "Let me know when you figure out the obvious. Until then, I have work." She stalked over, grabbed her purse, and slammed out of the room.

Koru rubbed his head. "Women," he groaned. "She definitely wouldn't want to hear why I care." Sighing, he teleported to his job early, and spent the day being a bit of a jerk to everyone.

* * *

"What's up with Lady Luck?" Fade demanded, cornering Koru in the factory.

"I don't know. I was about to tell her, but she flipped out when I told her what she was normally like, and said that I needed to figure out the obvious." He sighed. "I guess I get the obvious."

"Not if you haven't told her you don't," Fade said, rolling his eyes. "You've been friends for six years and you haven't figured out why she doesn't even notice other guys except as friends?"

"She does?" Koru asked, trying to remember if that was true.

"It's true," Fade confirmed. "Of course, she needs to notice the obvious too – like the fact you haven't even gone on a date in four years because you've been too busy staring at her to pay attention to whatever girl has a crush on you now."

Koru flushed like a lobster.

"Is he as oblivious as Ulrich?" Odd asked, coming to stand next to Fade. "Lucky's cousin here. You've got her in a meaner state than her ex-boyfriend ever managed."

"Ex-boyfriend," Koru repeated, narrowing his eyes at Odd.

"Yep. Johnny the creeper. He was okay, until his dad got him to smoke weed, and then he kind of went nuts. He'd been bi before, but after that, he'd do anything that moved. Heck, if it didn't move, he'd still probably do it. Broke Lucky's heart, almost. Didn't stop her from putting him into the hospital with every major bone broken." Odd's grin was rather nasty. "He's still in there." His grin faded. "You're different, evidently. She's giving you angry stares right now, but she hasn't banged your head through three walls."

"I knew it was love," Fade said, grinning.

"Shut up," Koru mumbled, and tried to catch Lucky looking at him. He managed to, once, just barely. "Might talk later, might not," he mumbled. It was as close to a promise as he would get.

On the other side of the room, Ina watched Lucky attempt to destroy a crowbar. "Betcha Koru's eating his heart out," she said, looking over the outfit her friend had worn. "Is the idea to make him jealous?"

"I like it," Lucky said flatly. Her hands had been manicured and painted with red nail polish. She was wearing high heels (she didn't need them normally, but she was shorter than Koru – who totally hadn't been in mind when she had this random shopping spree from anger), and they were red too. She wasn't wearing a little black cocktail dress, but the expressions Koru was shooting at the black tank top and the jeans said she might as well have been wearing one. Especially with her hair tumbling half loose down her back, the rest twirled up in a sort of bun. "Got bored."

"Which is why you're nearly monosyllibic," Ina said. "Just talk to him about it. He's a boy, for hell's sake. You know how they are."

"Oh?"

Ina rolled her eyes and hunched into a caveman position. "Looks good, smells good, wanna mate," she grunted, and resumed normal posture and voice. "Boys are pretty stupid about emotions, as you've noticed, especially when you try to hide them. Just tell him."

Lucky dropped the crowbar on the floor. "Later," she said, and glared as everyone stared at her.

"Where're Syth and Herve?" Mihi demanded when Nagina arrived three minutes later.

"You don't want them here right now," Nagina said, twitching. "A bit too much action going on in her dorm tonight. Trust me, you don't want to see. Your mind will never heal."

"Herve and..." Jeremie looked faintly nauseated. "How did they even get a mutual crush off the ground?"

"Common love of explosives, I'm guessing," Ina said, tilting her head. "Probably the biggest quality she'd want in a guy." She glared at the snickering Mihi. "Pervert."

"Right, now that we're past gossiping about other people's love lives," Ulrich said, "I think we need to explain on both sides just what the hell is going on."

Telling their stories took about two hours, during which they also discovered that Syth and Nagina were stepsisters, and that Syth's family tree had enough species in it to make half-demon sound like a picnic. Orc and elf blood just shouldn't have been mixed.

"Her natural form is essentially fairy shaped, but about nine feet tall. Giant blood, and dragon blood gives her spines in some places," Nagina said, playing with a soda can. "I don't know where the hair came from, and I don't want to. Me, I'm totally human. Sometimes it's a pain, other times, it's pretty good."

"Does Herve know what he's with?" Aelita asked.

"I guess so. I mean, she's been in her natural form a few times in front of him," Nagina said, shrugging.

"No fair. Herve shouldn't have known about magic before we did," Ulrich grumbled.

"Tough luck," Ina said, and toyed with her hair. "I've got a question – how the heck does Aelita have naturally pink hair?"

"What?" Aelita asked, blinking.

"It's not a natural color for humans, so we can rule out the idea you're fully human," Ina said, crossing her arms, "But the only species I can think of it being natural and common for is mermaids and fairies."

Aelita blushed and began to play with the hem of her skirt. "I've kind of got the blood for that," she said, blushing further. "My mother was actually a mermaid. She just took human form and decided to stay that way." Her blush deepened. "Dad was a strange mix – half fairy, half giant. Ended up human sized." She shrugged.

"Now my brain hurts," Yumi announced and stole the chair from Jeremie. "But it leaves us with a lot of questions. Once I pull my brain back together, I'm asking them."

"I can tell I'm not getting any sleep tonight," Aelita sighed. "I just thought it was going to be really fun sharing a dorm with you."

Mihi turned a cartwheel. "Still, you're not the same weird mix as Syth. Be happy about that!"

"I'm grateful for it every day," Aelita said, shaking her head. "She mentioned the elf blood once, but it was just off-hand, kind of joking."

"When did she do that?" Ulrich asked.

"When she first came. Was it last year? I think it was. She was talking to Odd and Jeremie about World of Warcraft, and she said 'Oh, I'm an elf. All the time,' and we all just thought she meant in the game, but her character on it was a human." She frowned. "Beyond all the species issues though, we've got bigger problems if the magical world is in trouble."

"Why would Earth have bigger problems in store? It's not like the thing's going to come here unless it figures out I'm here," Ina said, stealing the chair from Yumi. "You people need to get some more chairs in here."

"Didn't they teach you mirror theory? My dad did, once." Aelita demanded. "I don't know if it was the magical side or the scientific side that figured it out, but someone discovered that Earth and the Realms – where magic is the norm – are mirrors of each other. Whatever social changes happen there begin to show up here as well. World War II was one example of that. It started off on Earth, and a group of bad guys rose up on the magical field."

"What about Rwanda?" Odd asked, curious. "Does everything have a mirror?"

"Not everything. I'm talking large-scale things. Rwanda started off on the magical side, I think. Not quite sure," Aelita said.

"I think that did start on our side," Mihi said. She held one hand out and a book appeared. "I was reading this for fun a few days ago and got a bit of the Mirror Theory." She flipped through the pages. "Here's a bit about Rwanda – your side – and Canvers – our side." Adopting a studious tone (or attempting to), she read, "Canvers set off a massacre on Earth known as 'Rwanda'. As it was genocide here, there was genocide there. The difference was why. Canvers was begun by a dragon demon known as Kiroto, who kidnapped several elements – living elements – necessary to his spell." She dropped the tone, and let the book vanish. "We know some of them, actually. The General, K'thonya, she was one of them. Kiroto's brother Karashean was another." She smirked slightly. "Fade's mother was yet another element, and for the heck of it, Kiroto made her fall in love with him. Still haven't figured that out. There was a raccoon demon, Sarah, who was another element, and the oldest phoenix – what's-her-face? – was another. The basic method involved a mixture of their blood, which he took."

"That's just disgusting," Jeremie said. "What got rid of him?"

"Well, he realized that the spell was slipping, so he learned why. The blood hadn't mixed right. Gorgons, dragons, demons, and phoenixes have different types of blood, obviously, and it hadn't mixed. Of course, there's also the fact that when he forced each of them to drink a bit of his blood to cement the spell, he made K'thonya into a bit of a vampire-gorgon," Mihi said. She snorted. "He needed it from the same species, so he went on a killing spree trying to get a potent source, in the land he owned. He got his butt kicked when K'thonya and Karashean escaped and used some combination of their powers to lock him up."

"He's been there for a while now," Fade said, grinning. "Dad told me about that incident. I didn't know how it all played out."

"I'm so asking K'thonya about it after this is over," Ina said.

"Back to the present, we need to see what's going on there, so we can deal with some fallout here," Aelita said.

"Judging from what you've just told us, what we have to do is fight the source to stop the effects," Jeremie said, steepling his hands.

Mihi giggled.

"What?" he demanded, glaring at her.

"You look like an evil genius in some movie," Mihi giggled.

"Shut up," Jeremie ordered, flushing.

"Tomorrow's a Thursday, but three days from now we're all off.," Lucky said, ignoring Koru, "I have work off this Saturday, and you get to go into town. I think we should all meet for pizza, and then we can get started on informing you about our world some more." She smirked at Odd. "Yeah, I know, this is my world too. I'm part of both."

"We'll need to keep Ina on Earth, since the Beast is focused on her," Fade said.

"So I get to be some damsel in distress?" Ina asked, wrinkling her nose. "No."

Koru rolled his eyes. "Ina, it's pretty likely that the gorgons, werewolves, and the Dragon Realms are allying together, along with some of the smaller kingdoms. They're not going to take an invasion from the Underworld lightly." He leaned forward from the wall, just slightly. "If this all plays out kind of like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, we'll need you there for the final battle to make the Beast really want to come."

She scowled. "And when's our 'final battle' going to be? What if this isn't like your book series'?"

"I'd say it'll be something like Midsummer's Day," Mihi said, "Or the Summer Solstice."

"Why?" was the collective question of the less fantastically inclined.

"Because that's the day Earth and the Fairy Realm traditionally came together," Aelita said, working on chewing a fingernail. "I'd say we'd best check online for when they're going to happen."

"There's two days, which day is it?" Ulrich asked.

"Sometimes they fall on the same day, I think," Mihi said, crinkling her nose. "So we'll have to check all of it, I'll have to find one of my magical calendars and see when the worlds touch."

"I thought they touched all the time," Fade grumbled.

Koru snorted. "Hardly. Teleportation takes you between the worlds when they aren't touching. It's why the Beast can't sense us talking about it, and can't sense Ina's presence. When they touch, people with more than a drop of magic on this side, and everyone on the other side, will be able to see the other side. They'll be able to walk across the barrier."

"And if a war starts that day, the barrier will come down," Lucky finished, looking at Koru now. They stared for a moment. "Shit."

"You said it."


	13. Intermission

A note I should have included earlier. This story takes place in approximately 2007 into 2008, starting in about October of 2007. Just a quick note. ^^

Intermission

Gwen glared at Ben, Ben glared back. Risa fell asleep on Ben's shoulder. The usual prelude to a meeting of any sort, even if it was about a world alliance (or something like that – all of the adults involved had been drunk when they decided on it).

Draug came in, and mimed gagging. His arm, Gwen noticed, was around Crest's waist. At least that was something good come out of this. They'd stopped dancing around the fact they'd been in love since...nobody but they knew the answer to that, although Draug had always been extremely protective of Crest since he'd taken her into his court when she was a child.

"What's up?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Karashean and K'thonya finally gave in to their attraction. They're snogging in the main hall," Draug informed her. "It's kind of interesting to watch her snakes going glassy-eyed. He had to pick her up to actually manage to kiss her."

Gwen laughed. "Ironic. Apparently, all you need as a catalyst to get relationships going is the imminent threat of the world ending."

Crest grinned. "By that token, there's going to be a lot more snogging happening. Any happened with you?"

Gwen's face turned red, "N-n-n-no!" she stammered.

Ben snickered. "I suppose you and Koto are more stubborn than the rest of us."

"Shut up!" she yelped.

"Aw, we'll quit teasing you for now," Crest giggled. She and Draug sat down.

Ten minutes later, Gwen had started pacing, and Draug was humming the Jeopardy theme song. (During his time stalking Risa, he'd come to Gwen's house when Risa and Ben were out, and Gwen had forced him to watch the show with her and Koto, just so she could feel smart shouting out every answer and then explaining the cultural significance of each question to them. He'd never gotten the song out of his head, even after fifteen years.)

K'thonya and Karashean walked in, both looking faintly embarrassed, and were followed by Aiden and Hali, who were laughing like hyenas.

"Should those two even be here?" Draug asked, jerking his head at the two teenagers.

"Hey, they're practically adults," Gwen said, still pacing. "Nineteen and seventeen."

"With kids," Ben muttered.

"I still have trouble believing that," Gwen said, shaking her head. "Since we knew their moms before they were born."

"I just can't believe it's been that long already," Ben said.

"I can't believe you three are thirty now, that's what I can't believe," Draug said, leaning back in his chair. "Can't believe I'm in my forties now..."

"Boy, we're not having much of a meeting here, are we?" Gwen asked, and laughed. "I can't believe that Ben and Risa've had so many kids in just nineteen years."

"An inspiration to us all," the werewolf said drily, "Or a terror."

"I think it's more of a terror," Gwen said.

"Quit talking about nineteen years," Aiden groaned. "I don't want to suddenly hear someone mention my conception!"

"Well, now that you mention it..." Gwen drawled, stroking her chin. "Weren't 'thir and Hex drunk?"

"Beyond belief," Ben said, smirking.

"And then they got married," Gwen continued. "And that's how 'thir found out that when Hex is drunk, he starts reciting the entirety of _Cinderella_."

The cousins cracked up at Aiden's face, which was scrunched up, and his ears covered, in an effort not to hear about it.

Hex and Drathir walked in, followed by Omnia and S'argt. The latter couple was arguing, which seemed to be what their relationship was made from.

"Who are we still waiting on?" Risa mumbled from Ben's shoulder.

"Um..." Gwen frowned, counting on her fingers.

"She's the world's greatest mage, and when asked to do simple addition, she counts on her fingers," Ben announced. "What is wrong with you, Gwen?"

"Shut up," she snapped back. "I think Koto and Graille are the only ones missing. Could be wrong of course."

The doors flew open again. "Are we late?" asked the male of the two.

"Linath? Lithal? What the heck?" Risa asked, sitting up.

"I know, I know," Lithal said, waving her hand airily. "We're supposed to be evil. One tiny thing though, Slade's a pervert. We don't help perverts, especially not perverts interested in destroying the universe." She took a seat on the table. "It's wonderful that Mom's so glad to see me. Why is her mouth hanging open?"

"I think Gwen's in a bit of shock right now," Risa said. "Get some actual chairs, you two."

Linath blew a kiss at Risa. "Hi mom, hi Dad. Why is Aiden snorting?"

"Oh, K'thonya and Karashean were imitating a pair of eels out in the hallway earlier," Hali said, and burst into another fit of giggles.

Lithal squealed. "Finally!" She sat in Linath's lap when he settled into a chair.

Gwen shook her head. "I have this horrible feeling we're about to be invaded by teenagers," she grumbled.

"You'd be right," Linath said, leaning around his girlfriend. "Kusi and Kalliel got held up – Kusi told me. They'll restrain their killing urges. Apparently, they were considering Slade's offer, but then he made the mistake of groping her. Might have a concussion yet."

"That's if he has a brain," Lithal said, rolling her eyes. "Can't have a concussion without a brain."

"Any other errant siblings coming? Since you all apparently network with each other, despite the murder attempts," Risa asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Lii's coming. No Ara, since they're still dodging admitting even a crush. Tal is coming. Gref, thank God, is not coming. Lirael is coming, with Tal of course. They wouldn't admit why they were together at Tal's apartment. Rhia and Khalith are...actually, I don't want to know what they're doing." Lithal paused briefly to shake her head.

"You'd be with them if you hadn't increased your age," Gwen pointed out.

Lithal's only response was to stick her tongue out at her mother.

The door swung open to admit Koto, who was soaked, and looked highly amused. "I just passed Rhia," he said. "She informed me that she's found a spell to get older."

"We're doomed," Risa groaned. "Nothing is going to be safe in the palace again."

"Apparently, the evil children have decided to come back to kick the Beast's butt," Gwen explained, as she saw him glance at Linath and Lithal. "Since Kusi and Kalliel are coming."

"Oh boy," Koto said, and took the chair next to Gwen – which had been left empty, for some strange reason.

K'thonya and Karashean excused themselves and went outside.

"They're kissing again," Hali said, and snickered. "Can't keep their hands off each other now."

Koto shook his head. "This is going to be chaotic, isn't it?"

"That's what we've gathered," Draug said dryly.

Kusi and Kalliel strolled in a moment later, followed by Lii, all of them laughing. They took seats, and there was an exchange of money between the three sisters. Not long after, they were followed by Lirael and Tal, who didn't seem to have noticed the couple in the hallway.

Karashean came in, followed by K'thonya and Graille.

"Are there any more teenagers coming?" Gwen asked, rubbing her forehead.

"Nope. Why are we having this anyhow?" Kusi asked. "There are already alliances with the werewolves, gorgons, naga, and Bazel."

"We're the only ones that can actually provide manpower," Gwen said. "The fairies are wonderful allies, but they aren't gifted with fighting. The giants – the full ones – are too dang big to deal with on the ground here. We've got to figure out defense, distribute our skilled people – which now include all of you kids – and plot attacks."

"We can help you there," said a new voice. Everyone looked at the image standing on the table. She obviously wasn't all there, since the figure wasn't completely opaque, but what was there looked weird.

Kusi tried to poke Syth, and her finger went through.

"Sheesh. It's just a picture spell thing. Not sure about the name, actually, but that doesn't matter," Syth said. She tossed her hair – which was back to looking like an insane carrot – and crossed her legs. "I'm Syth. Sythandra Jones. Actually, I might as well update you on a few people first."

"A few people being?" Draug prompted.

"Lucky, Koru, Mihi, Ina, and Fade," Syth said. "The last three are actually going to my boarding school right now." She grinned. "I actually got wind of your meeting by complete accident. Scryed the wrong thing when I was trying to find out what was going to be on my English test."

"Glad I made this room unscryable," Gwen muttered.

Syth shrugged. "Anyhow, there are actually more of us than just those five and me. My stepsister and boyfriend have gotten involved, and so have some other people." She raised her hands placatingly, "They have experience dealing with weird things, mostly a sentient computer virus that wreaked havoc on Earth and somehow didn't get noticed."

"Right," Ben said. "Moving past that, how can you help?"

"We're doing scouting. Naginata already had a close-up scope of the Underworld," Syth said. She solidified. "Sorry. I had to get away. Didn't want the gym teacher to wonder why I was talking to myself in my room." Tossing her hair, she fell into one of the chairs, propping her short legs on the table.

"What did she find?" Ben asked.

Syth frowned, "She says that some of the Sins are on Slade's side, some aren't. The rogues who've managed to escape Slade and his pet are hiding in the mountains outside of Dis."

"Who is on Slade's side, out of the sins?" Gwen asked.

"Envy, Gluttony, and Avarice are with him. Pride is missing, presumed dead. Sloth and Lust are dead. Wrath and Osiris are in charge of the rogues, and they're doing a damn good job pissing the rest off." She folded her hands on her stomach. "We're debating on having someone infiltrate by getting into Slade's inner circle, but we've also got a good idea of when they'll strike."

"When?" Risa asked, sitting straight up.

"Midsummer's Day," Syth said, meeting Risa's eyes. "June 20."

"Day the worlds touch," Risa said, sighing. "What's going to happen when the barrier falls?"

Syth tilted her head, her uneven pigtails bouncing. "We're thinking that when the barrier falls, we're going to go to the various governments and tell them what's going on. Even the crazy people should be able to figure out that if the universe is in danger of destruction, they should put aside the fact that they hate the rest of us, to go kick some serious butt." She shrugged. "Slade'll recruit any evil people he can, but I'm counting on human illogicalness to keep some of the worst from going to him." She fluttered a hand. "I'll shunt Lucky over to your side tomorrow, after we've had our pizza and done some plotting."

"Mind if we join you for that?" Hali asked, grinning at Syth.

"Not a bit. I need to know more about your side, and while Ina can provide some, it's not recent memories of anything but the Underworld. Anyone who feels like coming is welcome," Syth said. "Though, be warned, we're getting a large pepperoni, and that one's all mine."

"We'll figure it out," Lithal said, and nodded at Syth. "What time?"

"Noon-ish. Just show up in Paris and go looking for the girl with the weird hair, and three people who can't get through a door without hitting their head."

"How tall?" Gwen asked curiously.

"Nagina and Koru are like seven feet tall, and Lucky's only three inches shorter than Koru. Not that it matters, since it still hurts my neck to try looking up at them." Syth vanished with a pop.

"She's nuts," Lii said.

"You're going, then?" Kusi asked.

"Duh."

Kalliel snickered. "We're not. We'll go work with Draug, if he doesn't mind. When I was there a few months back, I looked at your spells. The wards need some major reinforcement."

"I got a few spells from mom that could help with that," Kusi said, tilting her head. She wrinkled her nose. "Can't those two keep their hands off each other?"

K'thonya glared at Kusi. "Oh shut up. If you and Kalliel hadn't even _seen_ each other in sixteen years, what would you do?"

Kusi and Kalliel both turned an interesting red and stammered something.

Koto choked on a laugh and fought down a grin.

"Right. Moving out of awkward territory," Lithal said, leaning her head against Linath's chest. "I think me and Linath are going to put ourselves at the disposal of you people 'round here, after our little pizza plotting session."

"That sounds like the start of a twisted horror novel," Linath muttered.

"'Pizza Plotting – The Truth of What Goes on at Mob Meetings'," Lithal mused, and giggled.

The meeting ended on that note.


	14. Pizza & Plotting

Pizza & Plotting

Annie's Place was on the outskirts of Paris, and was two miles from Kadic. It was a pretty place, sandwiched in between two clothing stores, and opposite a toy store, a craft shop, and a hair styling place. The outside was done in pale blue, with white lines around the top in a column-esque pattern. Painted on the blue was a giant pizza with each slice topped differently. The outside smelled like pizza, to the point that walking inside made you feel like you had just eaten an entire large – which, at Annie's, was twenty inches.

The proprietor, Anastasia Luptak (though she preferred Annie), was a plump woman in her late thirties. Her black hair was perpetually streaked with white from flour, and the wedding band on her right hand was usually red with tomato sauce. She was short, at only 4' 6", but she made some mean pizza. Everyone loved her, and she boasted a sharp mind with an even sharper tongue. Stealing and attempted robbery were always spotted by her sharp black eyes, and the idiot silly enough to try to rob her usually ended up having to pay for the new door from their hospital bed.

Lithal crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the joint. "No way." Even wearing the closest things she had to human clothing, the half-neko was still blatantly out of place. The jeans she had borrowed from one of her sisters helped, but not very much. Her low-cut, blue top got attention, most of it due to the slit sleeves that closed up at her wrist, and the back, which featured a halter piece, done so that it looked like a silken collar from the front.

Linath was far better at blending, in dingy jeans and turtleneck. "Oh shut up. I doubt anyone's going to bother a huge group of teenagers." Taking his girlfriend by the elbow, he steered her inside.

"You with the Kadic kids?" Annie yelled from where she was working on a pizza. "Nellie! Get 'em seated!"

Nellie, an anxious girl who was an almost perfect miniature of Annie, hurried to greet them. "Are you with Syth's group?" she asked breathlessly.

"Yep," Linath said. He spotted a head of purple hair and blinked. "Who's the kid with the purple hair?"

"Oh, I bet Syth didn't tell you she changed her hair again," Nellie said, and snorted, relaxing. "Last year she had it in a rainbow mohawk for Christmas. Her stepsister sometimes helps out with maintenance here." She led them over to several tables that had been pushed together. "Here's two more for you." To the couple, she said, "Steal someone's menu – we have to keep some of them for our other customers." With that, she walked off to greet another couple.

"So, who are you two?" asked Ulrich.

"I'm Linath, she's Lithal," he said, sitting down. "I'm Fade's half-brother; she's his cousin in some sort of way."

"I thought you were dating, the way you look together," Ulrich said.

"We are. It's...complicated," Lithal said, squeezing a chair between Linath and Syth. "Our family tree's a bit screwed over."

"That's an understatement," Ina said. "Did you know that when their moms tried to draw it, both of them went temporarily crazy? There's so many marriages, affairs, random illegitimate kids, and unknown relatives who pop out of nowhere that even a soap opera couldn't manage to portray it."

"Don't forget how much drama happens because of it," Lithal said. "Sinnaro's curse, for one."

"Curse?" Syth asked, looking intrigued.

"Makes a lot of us want to kill all our relatives," Linath explained. "I've only got the twin sister to kill, and my older brother. Kalliel got hit harder than me."

"I think you just snapped because of Rhia," Lithal said, swiping Syth's menu. "Rhia is his insane twin sister – she's ten. Don't ask, or I'll be forced to explain the Pit, and I don't want to. I should be ten too, but same thing."

Ulrich groaned. "Don't talk. Don't talk. I don't want to know about your family. It sounds horrible."

"It can be kinda fun sometimes..." Linath started.

"...as long as you don't walk in on Ben and Risa..." Lithal said.

"...or on Hali and Aiden..." he groused.

"...or the other nauseatingly cute couples in the family," she finished.

"Badmouthing cuteness, little sister?" Lii asked, having shown up unnoticed. She didn't seem to notice the stares people were giving her long gown.

"Little? You're two people, you know, two people who are younger than me," Lithal retorted, and stuck her tongue out.

"Whatever." Lii sat down regally. On the floor. "Crap."

Lithal cracked up. "This is more fun than killing you. Use your eyes, dummy."

Lii scowled, but managed to find the chair this time. "I saw some more people kissing outside. Pink haired girl and a boy with his hair in some sort of spike thing."

"Aelita and Odd?" Syth asked, and gaped.

"Mihi and Odd, apparently," Ulrich said, watching the two in question walk in. "That's gross."

"I'm scarred for life!" Fade called, hurtling ahead of the couple. "Eurgh. Why is it that everyone thinks they need to get it on in public?"

"Don't ask me," Lithal said. "So, this is Fade."

Fade flushed and ducked his head. "Hi."

Lithal tilted her head. "Well, we're cousins. Nice to meet you."

Fade sat by Ina, looking even more awkward than he felt. The awkwardness only intensified as more members of the group piled in, and everyone was pressed tighter together.

Hali and Aiden arrived second-to-last, out-of-breath and pissed off.

"What happened?" Ina asked them.

"Mordicants, five," Hali growled.

"Kal," Aiden snapped.

"The usual," Lithal said, leaning back in her chair. "Why your mother ever gave Kal swords..."

"Aren't you supposed to root for her or something?" Hali asked.

"Nah. Just because we've got the same curse doesn't mean we like each other," Lithal said, rolling her eyes. "And Kal's pretty annoying."

"Let me get this straight – there's a lot of kids in your family who regularly attempt to kill each other?!"

The heads turned to find the outburst. It had come from Odd, who had a wide-open mouth, and was just gaping at Lii, who was nodding and smiling.

"Don't make him cause too much of an uproar, Lii," Lithal called. "Otherwise I'll remember what I'd normally be doing."

Lii rolled her eyes and kicked Odd. "Shut up." He complied.

"Where are Koru and Lucky?" Ina asked, standing up to see the door over Naginata's head. "Still nowhere in sight." She flopped back down. "Let's order anyhow. Know whatcha want?"

There was a general chorus of 'Yes!', nodding, and sometimes a 'Yes!' punctuated by an expletive or five.

Syth waved Nellie over. "We've still got two more coming, but the rest of us are ordering. Just show the two freakishly tall people over here when they come in."

The orders took several minutes, which, considering how many of them there were, wasn't a surprise. Sixteen people certainly take some time.

After Nellie had wandered off, they talked about random things, and checked the door for the missing couple.

"There's some group coming," Fade reported. "Wait. They're with Lucky and Koru..."

Lucky spoke with Nellie for a moment. Koru was rubbing his head, scowling (he had hit the doorframe, Lucky had remembered to duck for once). Then, the group was led over to the other sixteen, and several more tables were pushed together. The new five settled in easily.

"I know, I forgot to tell you," Lucky said, leaning around Koru to speak. "These are some of our friends – with their own, equally weird, recommendations. The guy is Tom Eidsale, my best friend since five. He's a computer programmer, along being a member of the U.S. Marines. He's three-quarters demon, if you're wondering about the eyes. His wife, Rhia, is a pixie. She's the one with orange hair, and happens to be a jockey, among other things."

"Waitwaitwait," Syth said. "Back up. The jockey – the Olympic jockey – is a pixie?"

"Yeppermcdoddles," Rhia said, and grinned.

"Oh no, not another Rhia," Linath groaned.

"The other woman is my friend Halinor Rose," Lucky said. "She's a junior Senator in the U.S. Senate, but she also knows about the polar world."

"Polar world?" Fade asked.

"It's the official designation for your world," Koru said. "The average person never hears about it, but a lot of people in the system of any country have heard of it."

"A lot of people on the fringe – big criminals, assassins, spies – have heard of it too," Lucky put in.

"Regardless of which side of the law you're on," Halinor Rose said, "The higher-ups know of it, and plan in accordance to what's going on. Your Dragon Realms are the equivalent of North and South America in landmass and population diversity, and events seem to correspond between the two. Western Europe appears to correspond with Lycanth, and after the Ural Mountains, Russia corresponds to the Underworld."

"How fitting," Lucky muttered.

Halinor Rose sniffed. "Just because _you_ managed to go to the ER twice when we went there doesn't mean a thing."

"Oh shut up," Lucky growled.

Rolling her eyes, Halinor Rose continued, "Africa's various countries correspond to gorgon tribes, naga enclaves, mermaid schools, and various other smaller, separate states. The Arctic circles are perfectly mirrored on the polar world. Asia is the correspondent to the fairy and giant kingdoms."

"What about Australia?" Koru asked.

Halinor Rose gave an undignified snort. "Australia's too special to correspond to anything."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

Syth cracked up, and continued laughing through the late arrivals ordering their pizza. She finally stopped when Herve threatened to dump his soda on her.

"Passing the hyena by," Lucky said, "The governments of the more developed countries do have some vague idea of what's going on. However, they don't have the full scope of it."

"On the upside, they're planning on avoiding nuclear warfare," Halinor Rose said.

"On the downside," Rhia drawled, "Russia's been plunged into civil war, and the side east of the Urals is winning."

"Shit," Lucky said. "They're keeping that pretty quiet."

"Well, they're trying to get a message to your people in the polar world," Halinor Rose said. "I got permission to come over to France because I said I had connections to the polar world."

"You told?" Lucky demanded.

"I didn't name names," the older woman said, rolling her eyes. "I got told to have one of you deliver an invitation to the various people in charge on the other side to the White House. Other diplomats will be there." She coughed, and a blush bloomed in her cheeks. "Actually, they're also planning on telling the rest of the world about your side then."

"You won't be able to get anyone in their supernatural form there except the naga and gorgon," Koru warned.

"That'll be enough to convince people," Lucky predicted. "Just make sure it isn't a full moon."

"I had to badger the planners for an hour, but they finally picked a non-full moon," Halinor Rose said. She beamed as Nellie and five other helpers approached, bearing pizzas. "Heads up, people."

The pizza was distributed onto the already crowded table, and a lot of the larger ones were perched on table racks. Talking grew into a loud hum from their table, and separate arguments and debates broke off from the main discussion. By the time they were done, there were fourteen pizza trays, thirty-three plates, and twenty-one glasses to deal with.

They left Annie's after waving at the proprietor and paying their separate bills, and 'wandered' to the factory to invade the lab.

Halinor Rose claimed the lab chair. "Okay, I get that some of the stuff with this could be useful, but what about the five of you who run it? Can you do anything besides tech?"

Jeremie groaned. "There is no way I'm singing in public. One of you others do it."

Aelita giggled. "I'm an AI." As soon as the sentence was completed, her ears stretched and an earring appeared. Her regular clothing was replaced by a skintight, pink-and-purple suit, completed by a charm bracelet.

The others, depending on how used they were to things like magic, gaped or shrugged.

Odd snorted, and, mostly because he wanted to see how they would react, said, "I want to marry Sissi." He sprouted purple cat ears, a purple tail, and a purple suit.

"You can all do that?" Lucky asked. At Jeremie's nod, she grinned. "Sweet. How?"

"We each have a phrase that triggers it, or, in Jeremie's case, a song. He sings the Barney theme song to get his Lyoko form, so tease him all you want," Yumi said. "We all say stuff we don't think we'd ever want to say. Ulrich should have had dibs on Odd's trigger phrase, but Odd beat him to locking it in."

"What does Ulrich say?" Syth asked.

"Something about binturongs, whatever the heck they are," Odd said, shaking his head.

"It was my random article on Wikipedia!" Ulrich defended.

"Moving on," Halinor Rose drawled, leaning back in her chair, "We can't shove you out of classes completely to help out, but we'll work on dealing with that for after Midsummer."

"We're out during Midsummer," Odd pointed out.

"You think the battle's going to last for a while?" Aelita asked.

"Estimates based off of the variations in technology and magic have decided that a battle would take almost a full year," the woman said, inclining her head at them. "The barrier won't restore itself if it does take a full year."

"So that's what Slade will be aiming for," Ina said, and scowled. "He'll draw it out as long as possible."

"Of course he will," Lucky said, and perched on the arm. "The thing in the Pit is supposed to bring about the end of the worlds – worlds in the plural form. Slade and his lust for Ina are just tools."

"Syth mentioned something about infiltrating them a little," Aiden said, resting his head on top of Hali's. "How are you doing that?"

Lucky slid off the chair. "I was afraid you'd ask that." She looked around, her gaze becoming far more serious than it ever was. "This never leaves this room. I'm an assassin, and the official designation for me is 'Bad Luck'."

"The most wanted woman in the world," breathed Yumi.

"Yeah. That's how we're getting them." Lucky scowled at the room. "Not a word. Got it?"

There was a general assent from the assembled group of teenagers, and she settled down again, the scowl still there.

"I guess now would be a good time to add that I'm a spy," orange-haired Rhia spoke up.

"And that I'm technically FBI, not that I always tell them everything," Koru said, looking straight at Lucky, dead serious. "I definitely don't tell them everything."

And Lucky smiled back.

"Hey, if Halinor Rose is the same age as you, how'd she get into the US Congress?" Odd asked.

"We didn't say she used legal methods," Lucky drawled. "She's actually younger, since time tends to run differently between the worlds. I mean, Koru and I were born the same year as Syth and Nagina, but we're in our twenties because the time isn't aligned." She grinned. "We were even in school here last year, though it's been four years time for us."

"That's just screwed," Odd said. "I'd been wondering why you hadn't come back, and now I find out you've had four years in the time I've had one. Screwy."

"Yeah, it is."

Koru grinned. "Even four years wasn't quite enough."

Syth leaned over to Nagina and whispered. "They're a lot friendlier than last night. Any bets on what happened?"

"None. I'm always wrong and you always win," Nagina whispered back. She had sat on the floor, but her head was on the same level as her stepsister. It was rather amusing to look at.

Whispered speculations of others broke out, and Halinor Rose beamed. "How many of us are there, anyhow?" She frowned, counting on her fingers. "Twenty-three of us here," she finished.

"You're a senator and you count on your fingers woman. What is wrong with you?" Tom demanded.

Halinor Rose stuck her tongue out at him. "Just because some of us are geniuses, Mr. Eidsale..."

"I'm not a genius! I ain't good with my grammar!"

She cackled. "Whatever. That doesn't exactly divide evenly, so we'll go with a group of seven people and two groups of eight people."

"For what?" It was probably Syth, but voices were getting hard to distinguish.

Halinor Rose opened her mouth and closed it again. "I think I've been on congressional committees too much."

"Hear, hear," Lucky said from the back. "How 'bout we just use texting? Like a little tree or somethin', for get-togethers, and make them smaller."

"Yeah. Do that." Halinor Rose waved a hand and slid off the chair. "Have fun with whatever for the rest of the day." She was joined by the older crowd, and they wandered out together. Several bangs were heard when they vanished.


	15. Idiot

Oh, and the whole thing with Cheney, as a pre-emptive strike? It developed out of just being random crowbars and globes of water to Cheney being a never-ending series of robots. I still don't quite know how that ended up happening. But no, I wouldn't go out and kill him. In case you're wondering after reading this. So I'm putting it at the front.

...what? It's past midnight and I've been writing a paper on Chernobyl. (Or it was when I wrote this. But it is impossible for me to clarify it still.)

Idiot

"Ahh, Bad Luck," Slade said, rubbing his hands together gleefully.

The kid had to be possessed, because all the others in the room were trying their hardest not to faint at the smell coming from the Beast.

Lucky bowed her head dutifully, half-wishing she hadn't become a killer. It paid well, sure, but guys like this…well, they did comprise the majority of her killings. She'd never taken a job before from a guy like this. And she never would again.

I swear, after this, I'm retiring to a remote island and not coming off it again, she thought wearily, taking a seat. Still, she had to pretend for now. Her voice was happy-go-lucky, however, when she spoke, cheerful and high-pitched. It was her bad-girl voice, ironically enough. "Well, I killed the idiot you wanted," she said cheerfully. "Piece of cake. Silly man didn't even lock his office."

There was a collective laugh from the group, those who didn't have their heads in their knees.

"Who's up next?" she giggled, stretching out.

Slade frowned down at a list on the table, stabbing each name in turn. "Uhhh…This guy. Can't say his name."

"Voldemort?" Lucky asked, moving to look at the actual name. "Aww, darn. No Tom Riddles. Meh, he'll be easy enough." _Not really,_ her traitorous brain corrected. _The Cheney-bot theory has yet to be disproved by Rhia or me._

"That's good. You are dismissed," Slade said, attention swaying back to the rest of the group. He frowned. "Why does everyone look like they're going to barf?"

Lucky took that opportune moment to leave.

* * *

Koru raised an eyebrow at finding Lucky sitting on the countertop, carefully bandaging her knee. "Yo," she said.

"Yo, yourself. What happened?"

"Slade sent me after Cheney. Right after killing him, another one appeared. Evidently, Cheney is a never-ending series of robots." She shuddered. "Rhia was totally right about him, though I suppose we knew after the crowbar incident."

"Did he try groping you again?"

"A little. I short-circuited the second and got away before his guards – why he'd even need any – could come. Such an annoying thing."

Koru snorted. "So, Slade annoying you yet?"

"Yeah. I'm totally quitting this gig after this blows over – well, and after I figure out how to end Cheney," Lucky said, rolling her eyes.

"You're so lucky that I lie to my boss a lot," he muttered.

"I know," she snorted, finishing off the wrap. "Only place the Cheney-bot got me."

"Fun for you."

* * *

Linath sighed for the hundredth time, and tossed the ball from his right hand to his left hand.

Kalliel finally lost it. "Would you cut it out?" he snarled. "I'm trying to work, idiot, and you're just being an impatient brat!"

"Didn't know you cared so much," Linath said, smirking. "Kallie."

"Why- you-you!" The older sibling flushed crimson. "Khalith told you that, didn't she?"

Linath nodded, smirking even more. "So, Kallie, dear, care to share what you're working on?"

Kalliel growled. "Wards, you idiotic piece of crap." His muttering quickly got dirtier.

"Care to be a little more eloquent? I'm afraid I don't understand trash-talk," the younger said, idly tossing the ball into the air, insolent smirk firmly in place. Baiting his brother was really fun!

The door breezed open. "Can't you two quit fighting for once?" Lithal asked, sitting herself in her boyfriend's lap. "Honestly. What is it this time?"

"He won't let me concentrate on wards," Kalliel grumbled, sending a pointed glare at his half-sibling.

"Well, I can deal with that," Lithal said. Smirking, she stood again, and dragged Linath from the room.

Kalliel went pale. "Oh God. Now I'm really going to be distracted." He shuddered. "Please, please, please, go into a closet," he muttered.

* * *

Syth pushed bangs from her face, and added a little arsenic to the mixture, taking it from the tubes in her test tube rack. She mixed the beaker with her stirring rod, and checked the temperature, then added a tiny pinch of nightshade for the final, magical touch to the poison. Nodding to herself, she poured the beaker into a flask and stopped it carefully, adding it to the shelf, and started work on her next. Poisons weren't her specialty, but Naginata wanted some to coat her blades with later, and the mixed girl wasn't going to tell the weaponeer no. They'd been best friends for thirteen years, and stepsisters for eleven. Even her boyfriend had to ask more than once, and they were close.

Real close, actually.

But that didn't mean he got to come in her lab. Some things, she reasoned, were too personal. Especially her equipment. He had his own lab, and they had a mental connection. That was plenty.

* * *

Kalliel was slamming his head into a table. Repeatedly, in fact. Kusi watched, trying to hide a smile. "You do know how often the closets around here get used. Should've thought twice before opening the door," she pointed out.

"But…Keth…and ….Rhia…eugh…" Kalliel was just not having a good day. After accidentally walking in on his mother and her husband, which everyone was immune to by now (those two had absolutely NO sense), he had walked in on his little sister, who had significantly aged in the space of the week since the meeting, and his mother's former stalker. Not a sight for the faint of heart, or for evil dragons, to be sure. A thirty year old, and what appeared to be – and acted like, in some ways – a nineteen year old, were certainly not fun to walk in on.

She patted his back sympathetically. Being some of the oldest in their overly large and complicated clan, the two had had the misfortune to walk in on all sorts of bedroom activities since the moment they started walking and talking. Now, going on about eighteen pretty soon, they had been quite sure that nothing could ever be as terrifying as walking in on Ben and Risa not knowing about the pile of unconscious dragon children who had made the mistake of teleporting to their bedroom. For some reason, the wards on their room never did work right. You might enter a human, and come out sporting a pair of fuzzy purple teeth, after all. But that one would be hard to do justice to, even for the one who experienced it. (Kalliel never could forget how long it took to get rid of those fangs…)

Kusi leaned back to stare at the ceiling. "Well, I did finish my part in the warding. You?"

"Yeah," Kalliel nodded, trying to erase mental images.

Poor Kalliel.

* * *

Lucky stretched out as far as she could on the tiny sofa. "It's not big enough," she complained.

Koru raised an eyebrow at her. "Did you think it would be huge? I mean, we're about the same size as someone with giant blood."

"And yet we're fully human. Go figure," Lucky muttered, rolling her eyes.

Koru grinned. "Well, yeah. That's what makes us so awesome."

She laughed, and sat up. "So, got any ideas for what's going to happen after this?" she asked, waving a hand vaguely.

He shrugged. "A few guesses, hopes, and other assorted items. I might tell you about some of them tomorrow, but right now we do kinda need to sleep."

Lucky rolled her eyes. "Nuh-uh," she yawned, and tilted her head in confusion when Koru cracked up laughing.

"See, that's why I love you," he snickered.

She stared.

Really, it shouldn't have taken him five whole minutes to realize he'd said that out loud.


	16. lolwhut?

I apologize for any needless (though amusing) drama at the beginning (or ending...) of this. It just so happens that most of the character couples that got created during the whole of thoe RPs, they mostly didn't argue with each other at all. I think, honestly, we had more than five couples who did, but it's hard to tell. (And there's too many threads to look through. x_x I don't have _that_ much time. And some stuff happened in C-Boxes, or just talking...it gets confusing.) Anyhow...amuse yourself by actually reading this and understanding what I'm attempting to say.

lolwhut?

"Oh my god. Did you...?" Syth and Nagina were pretty much hanging onto Lucky's every word, but the blushing, giantish human shook her head.

"Nnn...haven't...nothing...I swear!" she stammered.

Syth cackled. "All _I'm_ gonna say is that it's about bloody time."

"Echoed there," Nagina said, nodding. "Did you know how many bets there've been on you two?"

"Bets?" Lucky asked, blinking. Sometimes, she looked oddly innocent, not at all like the assassin she (occasionally) was.

"Loads. You being you, and Koru being Koru, you two were the last to figure it out," Nagina said, shrugging.

"She just called you stupid, by the way," Syth informed Lucky.

The woman flushed deeper red. "Shut up! It was just a _kiss_!" Her voice was muffled as she pulled her knees to her chest and buried her face.

"Just," Nagina muttered. "Just. I still haven't had one!"

Lucky and Syth exchanged a look. Nagina had been to dances with boys, but she'd never found anyone - male or female - who had the least bit of interest in her as anything but a friend. At eighteen, she firmly believed that she was too big to be pretty, and had become resigned to the idea that her one true love was to be her glaive.

* * *

Ina grabbed Fade from behind. "Idiot!" she scolded, pointing at the edge of the roof with one gloved hand. "You could have fallen off!"

"I'd be fine, Lady Worrywart," he replied, careless.

It was February, and they had finally managed to sneak onto Kadic's roof. The wind was strong, but they needed to talk. _Privately _talk. Sure, it was safe with all their friends, both new and old, but not a conducive environment to talk about what had happened, and to figure it out in the confused muddle stuck in their brains.

Ina spread her fingers, letting a pearly shield cover them. The wind ceased to be an issue. She looked ready to burst with whatever she had to say.

Fade merely raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for the flood of thoughts that was sure to follow. When she didn't explode with it immediately, he crooked a finger at her and twitched it.

"Pride had it planned!" she burst out. "I've been waiting two damn months to tell you that!"

"Do you think the rest knew?" he asked.

"Some, I suppose," she said, with a careless shrug. "Some of the others are decent enough, I suppose, but it's Hell, Face, and the business is souls of the dead." She turned away from him, but he could tell she was tired, mortally tired. Most demons never tired, even at spirit, but Ina was only a half-demon. Their other blood called the emotion of the half-bloods weak.

"I'm supposed to be queen when I go back, if I win," she said. Her voice, sweet a moment before, hardened viciously. "I _won't_."

His stunned look lasted long enough for her to see it.

"I know, I know. Everyone wants to be in charge, right? Except that I don't. Power like that makes me uncomfortable. As far as I care, Wrath and Orannis can figure it out. I'll get Gwen to magic away my demony-ness, if she can, and I'll live with Crest and be a happy little werewolf." She smiled.

"There's no way you classify as little," Fade drawled. "You're almost my size, and you younger."

"Quit arguing semantics. We both know that is but a minute detail of absolutely no significance." She ruined the snobbish effect by stifling giggles.

"When did you start talking like a teacher?"

"Since I listened to so many," she hurled back, flippant as ever about authority. "Now, for something else..."

Fade looked very adorable when he was confused.

She giggled. "We can't be like Koru and Lucky, you know. Forever avoiding it. We're not like that. We both hate being ignorant." She took a deep breath, turned fully towards him, her small face intense, and leaned forward to set a hand on his shoulder. "I like you. Probably more than like, I s'pose, but I just need to know."

If he was any redder, Fade would likely have been having an apoplexy. As it was, he was also managing far better than any of the boys in his acquaintance had when faced with romantic issues. Most of them had fainted.

Slowly, he took her other hand. _He_ couldn't say anything; he wasn't a talker by nature, really. This mere action was enough for him, and he knew she understood it.

* * *

**March

* * *

**

"Hey, hey, hey, ladies," Odd greeted, settling down at the table occupied by the girls.

Ina, Yumi, and Aelita barely spared him a glance, and only "Hi"s. Syth didn't notice, being occupied by her cellphone, Nagina was asleep, but Mihi kissed him. "Yo," she said.

Odd grinned. "What's up with them?" he asked.

"Dunno. Ina, Yumi and 'lita've been trying to study, but finals are three months from now."

"Why would they do that?" Odd asked.

"I dunno," she said, shrugging. "They're crazy."

"How'd you get a harem?"

"Go away, Dunbar," Odd growled, as the others looked (and as every girl glared murder).

"We're not a harem, Mr. Mental Fantasy dumbass," Ina snapped.

Yumi looked at her plate, uncommonly still. If she was angry or upset, it was impossible to tell behind the mask she'd put on. Only the tense set of her shoulders betrayed any emotion.

"Angry, sweetheart?" Dunbar asked idly.

She jerked her chin at him. "Go to hell."

"I could arrange that, I suppose," Ina said idly.

Yumi ignored her. "What are you doing here?" she snapped.

"They transferred me back," came his easy answer.

"We're not friends, I'm not your sweetheart," she snapped. "Don't forget it."

After a few awkward seconds, he moved on.

"Who was that?" Ina demanded.

"Yumi's ex-boyfriend, William. Rembember how we told you Xana used to have an avatar? That was William. He and Yumi started dating, but he cheated on her with several girls. She broke up with him, he and his new girlfriend - Delmas' daughter - transferred out. I don't like the fact he's back, at all."

Ina nodded.

"Do you realize, we pretty much live in like, a soap opera? This is one of the subplots, where Yumi's the heroine, Ulrich's the clueless hero, and Dunbar's the jackass old flame of a villain! He's come to wear black hats and do bad things- Oh! We should get a camera and make money!" Mihi rambled.

"Why did you introduce soap operas to her?" Syth demanded, looking away from her phone.

"TV, not me!" Odd cried, and began shovelling food down.

"Now, Ina's TV show would be like Charmed, and Smallville fused, I think," Mihi continued.

"Your TV show is an advertisement," Ina snapped.

Mihi stuck her nose in the air.

* * *

They'd walked into a campful of orcs while patrolling for Risa. Orcs hated everything, everything hated orcs. Unfortunately for the orcs, they hadn't realized they were attacking some pretty powerful people. Now, crouched in what remained of the camp, a medium sized dragon and a blue cat of similar size munched away on dead bodies.

_They're always so surpised that we eat them,_ Lithal - the big blue cat - commented mentally to Linath.

_It's because we never leave any alive to tell,_ he responded, crunching a particularly bony orc in powerful jaws. _Just think, it never costs much to feed us, even._

_It's certainly nice, and of course, low healer's bills and unruined clothing,_ she replied, chomping away.

Finished with the bodies, the cat bounded out of the way, and Linath lit the remains on fire with a breath. He flapped his wings to make it burn more, with more air, and shifted back to his regular form. From the bored horse on the edge of the clearing, he pulled some clothes from the saddlebags, and carried them over to where Lithal now stood, naked near the blaze. No matter that the big blue cat shape was one of her natural forms, and thus, by all laws of magic, it ought to carry anything she wore while in another natural form, even if it wasn't visible, it did not. (No one was sure if it had anything to do with her father being partially robotic or not).

"I hate changing back," she said immediately. "Well, I hate it more with people who _aren't_ you around." She kissed his cheek and accepted her clothes, dressing swiftly.

They led the horse on, chatting softly as they kept an eye out for another free meal.

"Kalliel managed to get on your nerves yet?" Lithal asked, after a while.

"Not yet. I get on his poor, tortured nerves so often that he hasn't had the time to get on mine," Linath said, smirking. "What about you and Kusi?"

"The only change is that we're not overtly trying to kill each other," she informed him.

He chuckled as they continued their meandering patrol. Two more camps of orcs were roasted. Just the price of cleaning up the Realms.

"I wonder," Lithal murmured, as they headed back to Risa's castle. "D'you think orcs might go extinct if we eat enough of them?"

"I'm hopeful," Linath said.

* * *

Kusi pulled a comb through her long, tangled black hair, and assessed her half-sister (or aunt...it was a little confusing how this worked, really). Aunt was probably the actual relationship, since Gwen was Kusi's mother, and Lithal and Lii were Gwen's grandfather's odd offspring, born shortly after Gwen was twenty and had already been mother to her triplets for a while. Since Lithal and Lii's mother had abandoned them (at an orphanage, on Earth, in the middle of Siberia - why any creature would take such specific pains to manage this feat is yet unknown), and they had absconded with Gwen during one of her messed-up attempts to appear somewhere else. She had adopted them, and they even called her 'Mom', and the detail of in fact, being aunt to her adopted mother often slipped Lithal's mind. It is rather hard, of course, to erase the thought process of twelve years.

Her green eyes swept along the reflection. "You're still here." Her tanned face gave away nothing, although it was likely that the red patches burning under her cheeks weren't blushing. Her father's unique...abilities, as such, had translated to her in form of two aliens he had absorbed the genetic coding of, Heatblast (as her Uncle called it) and that speed-demon creature, along with a few weird tricks she couldn't place. Kusi knew her uncle's name for it, but she thought that was stupid. She'd never had the time to find the proper name to either creature, and often regretted it. She liked full, proper names. It was only sheer force of habit that left her as Kusi, instead of her full name, Kusire. By the time she'd learned what her full name was, she had too much trouble responding to it. Everyone else was subject to their full name, even if they threatened her with death. The only exception was the unpronouncable ones - primarily Gorgons. K'thonya had informed Kusi on one occasion that the whole purpose of unpronounceable names was to make sure that one was called precisely what one wished to be called. The validity of such a statement was, of course, dubious at best.

She missed Lithal's witty remark, busy with a particularly recalcitrant tangle. "Look, I'm tired Lithal. Go pester Lii if you have to pester one of us. She isn't holding up horrible wards while building an entirely new set for an entire bedamned country. She's just passing messages along and scrying whatever little Lii scries, which means Ara taking a shower."

"You're nastier than usual," Lithal said, cheerfully ignoring her. She picked up a comb and came over to help with a truly nasty piece of the other's hair. "What happened to your hair?"

"We had to go fix some mangled piece of the old spells, just so we could safely underlay. Walked right into a camp of swamp goblins, augmented by orcs and a few demons. Unlike you, Kalliel and I don't eat them." Kusi yawned, her comb pausing for a moment. "He's still talking to Draug, but he'll come back here soon enough. At least the wards don't take any effort when you're sleeping." She yawned again. The worst tangles in her hair had been dispatched with, so she started on the easier ones. "Why do we keep our hair long? We get in worse scrapes than Mother, but we don't cut out hair."

"Vanity," Lithal said, smirking. "I'm a cat, of course, so I'm s'posed to be vain. And you are Kevin's daughter."

Kusi took a swipe at Lithal, who ducked. "Don't insult Father. He was a much better parent than Mother, even if he couldn't handle Greffith. No one can handle Greffith, though."

"You're tellin' me," Lithal muttered. "That boy gets stranger every day. I got woken up, middle of the night last week, to hear him yelling loudly at me that he got his favorite word tattooed on his freaking forehead. Who cares?"

Kusi giggled. "I nearly beat it out of him when we were little, but then Father got the idea it was bad for Greffith. It's the only thing he's ever understood."

"Normally Kallie would be helping you with your hair right now, you two chatting away," Lithal pointed out, abrupt as ever.

Kusi shrugged, though a small, downward twitch occurred at her lips. "We had a bit of an argument," she said calmly. "It'll pass."

"Arguments...I'm honestly shocked," Lithal said, quiet and mocking. "You must be the first normal couple in the history of our family."

Kusi laughed until she was breathless. "What about you?" she giggled.

"I think we've had a total of one argument in all ten years of knowing each other, and that was before the Pit and getting together," she said, solemn. "It was over whether we should conquer Canada or not."

Kusi shook her head and pushed Lithal, lightly. "Go tell your boy hello from me, and feel free to tell him about the goblin and orc encounter. Not about me and Kalliel arguing though. I don't know why I told you."

"Because I'm dating his half-brother," Lithal retorted, rolling her eyes. "What was your argument even over?"

Kusi simply shook her head and pushed at her again. After a moment, Lithal took her leave.

* * *

Kalliel grunted and tossed his brother a murderous glare. He looked terrible, and seemed to be at the point of readying himself to destroy Linath and devour him whole. His hair was messier than usual, flopping every which way, incredibly cirty, and this usually impeccable peacock of a dragon-elf did not care a bit.

Linath idly tossed the rubber ball higher into the air, happily baiting his brother. He liked making Kalliel irritable, especially when Kalliel was already having a bad day. It was just so much fun! Besides, nothing seemed at all serious yet, and having fun was always great.

Of course, the deceptive calm, as far as Linath was concerned, shattered when his brother tackled him from across the table and began to punch him repeatedly in the nose - the most convenient place to reach. "Leave me alone!" Kalliel snarled. "I" -punch- "am" -punch- "sick" -punch- "of you" -punch- "bothering" -punch and punch- "me!" -punch-.

Linath pushed Kalliel off himself, cupping his nose in a glowing hand. "Geez, I wasn't even that bad yet," he snapped, holding his brother off with a shield. "And have I mentioned Kallie? You look like you got dragged in by a starving dog."

Kalliel swore at him with a vocabularly that would have impressed his younger sister, had she been there.

"Did Kusi leave you or something?" Linath asked, his tone complete disbelief. "You sure need a huge attitude adjustment, Kallie-bear." He flipped his fingers at his brother mockingly and swept out of the room, leaving the incoherently cursing male behind.

Once he was coherent again, Kalliel stomped off to repair his injured peacock look. "_She_ can apologize first," he muttered darkly as he did so.


	17. Glaze

So, this is the chapter where the plot actually starts back up yayness! It also filches the character of another friend of mine, Socks. Look for the psycho named Ophelia, also featured in Risa Silvara's The Drunken Dragon.

This chapter is also going to have more random things in a few spots. Anyhow…

Glaze

Aiden polished one of his many daggers with precision, listening to the nearly endless and self-pitying litany he was receiving from his cousin. There was no odd and convoluted familial relationship between them. They were honestly just plain cousins. "Kalliel," he finally interrupted. "I'm flattered you think I'm an expert on the subject, but...really. Why did you come tell me you and Kusi had a fight? Any normal couple has fights. It's not that shocking."

Kalliel blinked at Aiden, looking rather owlish. "Really?" he asked, stunned. "Mom never fights with Ben. K'thonya and Karasehan never fight. You and Hali never fight."

Aiden cackled. "Hali and I fight all the time," he giggled. "We just hide it better." He shook his head. "Aunt Risa and Uncle Ben are special in just about every sense of the word, and our lovely pair of eels are rather new to the idea that the other actually loves them. They'll learn." He chuckled. "But this can't be your first fight, not with you two together for six years."

"Not our first fight," Kalliel mumbled, rubbing his neck distractedly.

"So why is it such a problem?"

"Usually it is her fault, and she admits to it."

"So it's your fault this time. Try apologizing."

Kalliel, now resembling a barnyard hen, jerked his head straight to look at Aiden. "Bu-huh-whuh?"

Aiden rolled his eyes. "Apologize. I do that with Hali all the time." When a further blank stare was all he received, he sighed. "They're _women_," he explained patiently. "Whatever other species they've got, they're women overall. When they're angry enough, they're not their usual selves. And, frankly, you were flirting with another girl in front of her. You've been upset when that's happened between her and another boy, even when you're not there."

Kalliel's silence was beginning to get uncomfortable on his end.

"She's not going to apologize for this. She hasn't flirted or really looked at any other guys for two years, is what you've said. You should try apologizing, and doing what she's doing."

If the clashing colors of face and hair were any indication, Kalliel was suddenly getting it. When he jumped through the window, specifically kept wide open for the various dragons in the family, Aiden was unsurprised.

"My only objection is the way you described the female gender, oh husband of mine," Hali drawled, coming from behind the door.

"I'm sure you can think of a way to settle that," he replied, mock-serious.

"I'm sure I can," she teased, walking towards him.

There was something infinitely satisfying about knowing that babysitters were really cheap on Earth, and that they had nothing to do.

* * *

"I'm _bored_," Risa complained, draping her arms around Ben. "Why is there so much paperwork at wartime?"

He chuckled and brushed a kiss across her forehead. "I have absolutely no idea, love. Maybe it's to make people hate going to war?"

"Ugh. It doesn't seem to work," she grumbled. "Any signs of our oldest?"

"Tom? That boy hasn't showed up since he hit sixteen," Ben said, watching his wife's tired face. She'd never admit to it, but her firstborn was definitely her favorite child. He'd been born under...unusual circumstances, to be sure, and he'd never jumped around the ageline either. He was barely older than Kalliel and Lirael (Kalliel's twin sister), being fully eighteen, instead of just on the verge of it.

"He'll have to come back sooner or later," she mumbled. "Than I can fob my paperwork off on him. He's s'posed to be the heir after all."

"Maybe we should ask Kalliel..."

Risa blinked at him before her tired mind caught up. "I'll strangle Kallie if he managed to kill him, Kusi be damned," she muttered.

"Actually, it's likely to be no Kusi," Ben said, sounding amused. "They had a huge fight, according to Draug, and Kusi has been working on her own, and Kalliel's been pounding Linath whenever he's annoyed enough."

"They actually fight, I'm shocked," Risa murmured. "I didn't know they could disagree on anything."

"Inspiring, isn't it?"

* * *

"Who in Athiyk's name can we trust to be the freaking heir?" Risa fumed, three hours later. "Not one of our children is fit for the job!"

Tom, as it turned out, had been killed by his younger brother. Kalliel had just figured no one would miss him. He was wrong, and had the marks of his mother's angry attack on him before Ben dragged her away. The acid spit that had flaked his cheeks and stomach would probably never heal.

Ben wisely refrained from pointing out that Kalliel had the aptitude. "Linath is, but he's already Omnia's heir," he said, calm (for once). He was angry about Tom too, but he had his own ways of formulating revenge on Kalliel. It mainly involved figuring out what Gwen's turtle spell was and then using it on Kallie.

Risa growled, pacing back and forth. "I'd've been happier killing Kalliel myself," she snarled.

"I know you would have, but than you'd have felt horrible afterwards because he's your son too," Ben pointed out. For once, he was the reasonable one. Anyone who knew them well would be attempting to figure out who had swapped the personalities. Anyone who had known them forever would just know that Risa was like this whenever anyone she cared about was hurt in any way, and that Ben was always the perfect support for her. Whatever else people could and did say about him, Ben honestly loved his wife.

Risa sneered slightly, flopped onto a seat and stood up again, resuming her haphazard pacing. "Who who who?" she hissed.

"Why not Aiden? 'thir hates being even a princess or duchess or whatever, but Aiden likes that stuff." Ben was going out on a guess, but Aiden's obsession with shiny things (like crowns) could be inducement enough.

Risa brightened. "Ooo! That would work! And then I can kill Kalliel later."

"Just sic Gwen and the turtle-spell on him," Ben suggested. "He'll be too enamored of cabbage to think for quite a while." He shuddered. He hated cabbage and lettuce now, he'd eaten so much as a giant turtle.

* * *

Kalliel had, luckily for Kusi, apologized. She'd been about to apologize to him, but now her pride was quite well salvaged. (It was okay - Kalliel didn't need the ego he'd sacrificed, he had far too large a one anyhow). Now, though, she had news for him in a big way, and of the amusing and not-so-amusing sort.

"The bad news or funny news first?" she asked, hugging him from behind when she found him.

"Either one," he suggested.

"Well then, Aiden is your mother's new heir and she's plotting to kill you for killing Tom - though really, he couldn't defend himself against an eleven year old, so he kinda deserved it." Kusi snickered. "The bad news is that we're getting dragged into more weird plotting."

"More?"

"Like, invasions or something. According to Sythandra Jones, the freak of nature."

"'The'? Not 'a'?" Kalliel inquired.

"Orc and elf," Kusi responded, wry.

"Sorry I asked," Kalliel laughed. "Aiden as king...that's going to be funny."

"Hali as queen will be even funnier," Kusi murmured.

He lost it at the idea of brash, uncontrolled, _tiny_ Hali being a queen. It was just ridiculous, imagining her with a crown doing diplomacy instead of out re-killing dead things or insulting people without intending to, especially when he had seen her punch someone for saying she looked nice once. No, his parents hadn't been thinking, it was easy to conclude.

* * *

"Linath, help me with the parameters on this ward," Lithal called. They were working on a spell to ward a large party from sight, but to also allow them to see through other warding spells. New spells weren't invented that often, but the couple had a way with them that meant they got tasks like this dangled in front of them.

Linath leaned over her shoulder to look at the strands of magic she had wound around her fingers. The words she had used in powering it - she didn't deal in raw power like her mother - glittered in their magical form along the silver strands, shimmering and flickering around. "Maybe try a few more of the third string, and try playing with the fifty-third," he suggested, tapping the strings mentioned.

Lithal murmured, adjusting things as she shook the magic cat's-cradle around. It shimmered abruptly and she vanished."Nice! I can see you in great detail," she exclaimed. "Can you see me?"

"Nope," Linath said, grinning at where he knew she was.

"That's good," Lithal commented idly, shaking it out as she reappeared. "I do think we might want to play a little more with it, but for now I'll put it on the page." The fun thing about working at making spells was that you didn't have to memorize it to write it down. Someone, several hundred years prior, had invented a spellbook that you simply pressed the physical manifestation of the spell into, and the book wrote it out. It was an amazing creation.

* * *

Linath, later, would call it a moment of personal triumph. His mother would call it a moment of idiocy. His girlfriend would just laugh herself to breathlessness and box his ears. What happened that night could not be explained by the poor dragon, as he had been knocked out for most of it.

At approximately midnight, he had gone to patrol the castle corridors, and check the Healer's Bay. The healers of the palace were infamous for their perverts. Lately, they had been held in check by a half-naga, Graille, the younger half-sister to K'thonya. She was always a fearsome sight, snake-hair brsitling while she slunk across the corridors, upright with her long tail slinking behind. She was approximately fifteen, and very gifted in the art of healing, as well as intimidation tactics. She was extremely shy, unfortunately, but she'd been handling Linath and his fights with Kalliel since she had started in the Healer's Bay at nine.

It was for that reason that she stopped him during his patrol, the worry wrinkle above her brow creased deeper than he'd ever seen it. Unlike most part-gorgons, Graille had never developed the power of turning someone into stone, which meant she had never been forced to don the veil. Her light red skin was darker than normal, and her snakes were agitated.

"Linath, one of the girls has vanished," she said. Her voice was grave on a good day. With one of 'her girls' missing, it was anxious.

"Which one?" he asked. He knew most of them by name, since he ended up in the infirmary with alarming frequency.

"The new one, um, Ophelia," Graille said, shifting on her long tail.

"Oh, her," Linath sighed. Ophelia was a dragon like he was, though without the elvish blood, and she was always after him - or any other male, available or not. Still, he'd keep an eye out for the girl. "I'll watch for her."

Graille hugged him. "Thank you! Your mother's always annoyed when the girls go wandering to find your father, and I do like keeping our bay intact."

"No problem," Linath said, smirking slightly. To call Chandrisa annoyed was understatement. Her last expression of disapproval for the healers had been to rip the wall of their bay. Understandably, Graille disliked losing track of her healers.

Graille waved at him as she slid away, her sinuous tail swishing.

Linath would regret that promise five minutes later, when he was drugged and dragged away, with every ounce of his muddled mind.

* * *

Hali was prowling the hall of her husband's great-aunt's home when she heard a thump. Given the amount of bizarre booby-traps that the late Hestia Malfoy had left behind, she went to make sure that nobody was dangling over the crocodile pit in the living room, or quivering in the snake cage in the bathroom.

Instead of the usual suspects in the snake cage (her husband or son), she found an irate young dragon woman looking frustratedly at the male in the cage, who some vague part of her recognized as her cousin, the more immediate part of her brain noticing how close he was to triggering the maze trap. "Don't go any further or you'll-" She groaned as Linath hit the wall. There was a burst of power, and the next moment, Hali, Linath, and the mysterious dragon girl were stuck in an enormous maze.

"I hate you Hestia!" Hali yelled with all her strength, and turned on the two. "What the hell did you come here for?" she snapped.

"Linnykins!" the girl wailed, flinging herself at him. "I'm freeeeee!" She began smothering the flailing teenager with kisses.

Hali was speechless for nearly a minute before she pulled the girl away. That done, she began poke Linath. "What happened?"

"She ki'napp'd me," the dragon slurred, obviously drugged. "An' we 'peared here. Someone wanted 'er 'ere."

The necromancer frowned. "What purpose would that serve anyone..." she murmured, turning to the dragon she restrained by a stranglehold. "Who is she anyhow?"

"I'm Ophelia," the dragon snapped, trying to free herself. Her long silvery hair spilled to the floor, given that the woman holding her was at least a foot shorter. Halinor Malfoy was, after all, noted for lack of height. "Let me go!" Ripping herself free, she began transforming. "I'll be taking Linny with me!" she sniffed, haughty.

"Go ahead and try," Hali said, snorting. "You have to actually follow the maze to the center, little miss Ophie. And as Linath's cousin, I'm taking him for your safety." As she hefted her cousin-in-law over one shoulder, she added, "It's for your safety. Lithal would eat you if you touched him."

"I thought my plot was flawless," the dragon whined as the tiny figure with her far-larger burden vanished into the depths of the maze. She pouted. "Slade prooomised it would work."


	18. Words Would BeInadequate

Welcome to the first chapter starring Wrath, Osiris, and the situation of Hell. It's going to be more plotty than most of the previous chapters, I think.

Words Would Be Inadequate

The demon burst into the tent thirteen minutes before dawn. "I just came from the northern watch," she gasped. "Gluttony's marching a small army towards our camp."

Wrath sat up in the cot she'd been asleep in, ignoring the blanket that tumbled to the ground. "Send the archers to harass her," she ordered, clambering out of bed even as she began trying to pull armor on, her dark skin gleaming in the sun that hit her through the open tent flap. "Osiris, now that we finally hooked her, get some people to go break into Dis. Only a few."

"Aye-aye captain ma'am," the god saluted, snorting at the little redhead. He took more time about dressing after leaving his cot, noting that their scout was standing there, frozen in shock. "Gluttony is sadly predictable," he said dryly, stopping her before she left the tent. He kissed her quickly before walking out ahead of her, whistling amiably. For someone who masqueraded as an incestual dead man, he sure was cheerful.

Wrath snorted and walked on through the ramshackle 'camp' her army had formed. Osiris was the politically minded of the two, and Wrath, as usual, proved her title of general to be the most deserved. Wrath, of course, left the scout standing behind frozen.

A few minutes after Wrath left the tent, the girl came unfrozen. She stepped back into the sunlight with a shudder. "Doesn't anyone have any sense around here?" she muttered, stalking irately off to the next tent. As her luck that day would have it, she'd be walking in on a lot.

Wrath grabbed other people as she made her way to the north of the ramshackle setup. To the casual observer, it had been hastily assembled. To the seasoned veteran general, such as Wrath herself, it was a neatly concocted fire trap. The lithe woman took her time, and kept an eye on the horizon. An hour after the scout had burst into the tent she spent her time with Osiris in, Gluttony's troops made their appearance on the horizon.

* * *

Spying missions in Dis had been hard enough, but Osiris wished they'd had more opportunity to locate their trapped supporters. Turning to the former street-demon, he gestured along the empty main road of the capitol city. "Where to now?"

The male walked into sight briefly, then back into the shade of the building where they huddled. "No one is out. I saw Avarice's troops marching towards the pass we share with Lycanth, and we know where Gluttony is."

"That leaves Envy," Osiris said, knowing the location of the seventh Sin already. "She'll be the guard of them."

The others nodded. The sometimes-harpy made everyone with a brain just a little bit frightened, but Osiris knew that he'd have no problem killing her. The Sins were powerful, but they weren't quite like him, the honorary 'Sin'. He, after all, was a God, and happened to be immortal. "Let's do this," he said, and they waltzed into the city.

* * *

Wrath got to her feet casually from the old beer barrel she'd been perched on. Her people, dressed in old things that certainly didn't classify as armor, clustered around her, playing at fear and shock. Hastily concocted questions clamored in the air around her, and she promised herself that the strategy of this was worthwhile. Lull her sister into a false sense of security before striking.

The pink-haired, purple-eyed woman wasn't so easily fooled. She was on them nearly instantaneously. Dismissing the other fighters with a wave of her hand as unimportant, Gluttony made her way to Wrath. "You. Me. Fight." She bared her mouth in a wide grin. "If I win, I get to eat you," the black-clad woman added.

Wrath pouted at the fact that all her planning could be a waste. On the other hand...a fight with Gluttony would be interesting by any means. A brief second later, she beamed broadly. "You're on, little sister. To the death." She gave an ironic salute and the followers of the two spread out in a circle around them.

"Well," Envy suddenly purred as Osiris reached the first of the slave compounds, which contained a gallows. "Just in time to watch your little apprentice and his girlfriend die."

Osiris snarled, noting Jolie being dragged onto the stage alongside Chaud. He needed to deal with Envy quickly. He tackled the blonde harpy, already ripping through his seemingly dead skin. Acid spilled out, and Envy's mouth, open in a shriek, caught the acid. Her screams grew louder, as everyone but the hangdemon turned to look.

Osiris leaped away from her, trying to reach the gallows, where the two had already been affixed to the gallows. Even as he reached the stage, the bodies of the two plummeted. Their heads were pulled off because they fell too far. Osiris lost it.

* * *

Gluttony, like all the Sins, had a favored weapon. They could not manifest the reaction of their name, as it was really only a title, the original Sins having died off eons ago, or not a one of them would have felt the need for a tangible manifestation of power. The youngest Sin favored the spear.

"I was hoping you'd say that, sister dearest," Gluttony replied, and lunged without warning.

Wrath rarely needed her sword, and having never fought against the younger, the lithe woman had badly underestimated her. She held her own, weaponless, for thirty minutes, before she began to worry. She was losing ground against the crazily smiling Gluttony, her cheek was bleeding badly, and one arm looked terrible.

Gluttony's spear missed her throat barely, as the redhead tucked herself into a tumble. She knocked one of Gluttony's helpers over, and relieved him of his sword. Standing up, she advanced on her sister once more, sweating, pale under her dark skin.

"Really? I was wondering if you were going to run," Gluttony said, smiling prettily. A sound that could only be described as a purr escaped her throat. "I'm _so_ glad you didn't, big sis! Think of all the fun we'd miss!" Her spear flicked out to kiss Wrath's legs, and she jumped away from the swing of the elder's newly acquired sword, landing in a flutter of too many petticoats.

A pout lodged itself on her face. "Damn. Why do I wear all these skirts?" Without the slightest regard for her furiously advancing sister, or modesty in general, Gluttony used one tiny hand to rip all her multitude of skirts free, and stepped out of them. "Betcha like me better now, sissy!"

"She shoulda been Lust," Wrath grumbled, eyeing the now half-naked form of her sister with a resigned gaze.

* * *

When Osiris could see straight again, he noticed several things immediately. The first was that every demon left alive in the compound was huddled behind the gallows, the only thing left standing, staring at him wide-eyed. The second was that he felt oddly light, which led to the third. He had his natural, godly shiny form back.

"Oh hell no," he swore, than looked at them. A sigh escaped. "Look...this is....just my original form."

"You killed every one of the ones holding us," breathed Gossammer, nearly unrecognizable. Her wings were gone, along with her hair, and her legs were shredded.

Osiris, looking at those left, felt sick. It was clear that Envy, at least, had wanted the power her ancestors had owned. Sick choices made by sick people, he thought, and because he had to, he looked at the bodies of Jolie and Chaud.

People didn't deserve this crap just because Slade was a corrupted pervert. His glance at Envy nearly set his blood to boiling, but he bottled the rage up this time.

* * *

Five minutes later, Gluttony ducked out from under Wrath's latest bid for her throat, and ripped her shirt off, with a violet-eyed wink at her sister. While Wrath's shocked subordinates stared, Gluttony's took the opportunity to attack them.

Wrath fought on, anger now fueling her interest in the fight. Generally the one who least lived up to her title, she poured in all her passion to the fight. A stroke from Gluttony's spear severed the chest plate of her armor, digging a gouge into her shoulderblade. Now Wrath remembered that her sister was infamous for being a whore, which reminded her that there was another meaning to 'being eaten'. Suddenly, she was ready to end this more than before, and regretting having just put on armor. Gluttony was not an easy fight.

Silently hating the idiot who made a metal spear shaft for Gluttony, Wrath now directed her efforts at separating her sister from her weapon. She succeeded finally, an hour and a half after the fight had began. For roughly another hour, the tireless siblings fought each other, Gluttony with only her bare hands, before the pink haired sister broke away and ran in the direction she'd came, stark naked.

"Whore," Wrath snarled, and turned on Gluttony's followers. The slaughter was unavoidable.

* * *

"Just one more ingredient to the spell," Ali said, and poured the blood onto the clay, wax, and stone effigy laying in the chalk circle. "Bells, dear." Her blonde assistant willingly handed them over as he began to chant the spells that would begin to weave the elements of the Mordicant together.

Ali stepped into Death and ducked down several feet into the First Precinct, fishing under the water for the spirit stuck there. Emering with a triumphant smile, she began dragging her prize back onto the side of Life. Once she had popped them out, her hands were at her bells, ringing.

"Pride, I bind you to the service of our master, and to service of us," the girl said. When The Mordicant-Pride's head twitched in submission, Ali stopped her bells with a satisfied smirk. "For now, stay in the cave. Someone will be brought to you soon enough for nourishment." Turning to Zane, she rested a casual hand on his chest. "Now, where did we leave off?"

He grinned at her and whisked her from the cave.

Mordicant-Pride stared blankly after, long dripping muzzle sniffing intently.

* * *

Yay Pride's back? And there's dead, named characters. I don't think Gossamer's going to be too far behind Jolie and Chaud though. : /


	19. This is Lycanth? Not Quite

Well, I think this story will actually get finished this year. I've estimated that it'll have a total of thirty-four chapters, so we're over halfway done. Only a few things left to decide before I get to them.

Lycanth? No - This is Spartaaaaaaaaaaa!

Kusi propped her legs on the edge of the desk in the study, staring out the window. It was kind of Draug that he was letting them into his palace, but she could safely say that palaces had never been a favorites of hers. She'd grown up in a network of subterranean caves before leaving, at age thirteen, to roam Dragonia (a.k.a. the Dragon Realms) with Kalliel, who she had allied herself with against their siblings, especially when the curse had struck them. They had remained fairly uninterested in each other until sometime at fourteen. Unlike every other couple in their 'family', they had never revealed their weaknesses, even accidentally.

This meant very little to Kusire, as it was a simple fact of her life, just as it was simply accepted that she was technically human, and with her father's unique powers of absorption and reflection. Watching the blur on the horizon while she talked to Kalliel was important.

"Which of the Sins d'you think it is?" Kalliel asked, from his squashed corner chair, where he had neatly sprawled, feet facing the ceiling, longish blue hair flopping to the floor.

"Well, discounting the dead ones it can be either Gluttony, Envy, or Avarice. Envy hasn't ever had much penchant to leave, Gluttony's obsessed with eating her sisters, so..."

"Avarice," Kalliel finished. They grinned.

Avarice was the best known of the Sins, with her russet hair and cruel amusement. Anything that benefitted her in any possible way was useful. She was manipulative, utterly dead inside, and the most likely of the Sins to get back her ancestor's power. She had, before this whole insanity, been rather worshipped for her use of the chainwhip by the teenaged dragon sitting in the corner, who loved weapons as much as he loved Kusi.

"You're thinking of stealing her chainwhip," Kusi drawled, swinging her legs from the desk. "Naughty."

"I live to serve expectations," Kalliel said, smirking lazily at her. Kusi giggled, standing to stare out the window. A moment passed. "Can you get me out of this chair?" the evil dragon asked.

Kusi laughed outright and helped him out. Then, they sent the message to Draug, adding in mind-speech: _We'll handle them. They won't be a problem_.

Draug doubted they'd be able to handle an army, as Avarice had surely brought, but by the time he had the chance to try to forbid it, they were already gone, Kusi riding on her boyfriend's colossal dragon-form.

* * *

Avarice raised an eyebrow when she spotted the enormous blue dragon from the cliffs where she was crossing. She laughed. "Shoot it down," she ordered her archers. They dumped packs on fellow soldiers and shouldered crossbows, winding and firing.

The arrows would have hit, had fire not lanced from Kusi's hands. Her short black hair whipped around in the open air, attacking her eyes and mouth. Blinded by her hair, the girl relied on powers picked up from her father and his exposure to the Omnitrix, to see through her eyelids and hair. The only useful talent of the so-called Ghost Freak that she'd inherited, it was always put to good use when they flew. Most of her talents obtained from her father were useless at the best of times, but war is never the best of times, and running faster than the wind, becoming molten fire, and seeing through barriers, all are useful in a war, (although seeing through barriers is generally useful when playing Hide-and-go-Seek; somehow, Kusi's brothers never could figure out why she always won).

Kalliel landed, crushing a good portion of Avarice's army, and anyone nearby was soon set on fire. Avarice herself was forced to put her armor out. Kalliel, back in his elfin form, grinned and summoned a flaming axe. No, it wasn't his. It was actually Hex's, but pretty much everyone had borrowed it at some point. He could have just as easily used one of the swords strapped to his back, or summoned one of his many weapons from his 'secret' lair, but being the obsessed weaponeer he was, Hex's axe was always good to steal. That done, he attacked Avarice.

She blocked easily, amused (and slightly irritated, too), that the King of Lycanth would send two mere teenagers to attack her army. Still, Kalliel's weapons skills were enough to make her pay attention to what he was doing. Meanwhile, Kusi solved any and all problems with a good dose of fire, or occasionally running them dizzy for variety. At some point, Kalliel got bored with the axe, and sent it back. He dodged Avarice's latest bid for his head, sticking his tongue out childishly, and swung loose both of his swords.

Kusi, now at the end of those who had not fled, toyed with a group of demons, lighting them up casually, allowing them to put themselves out, and repeating, a smirk on her face.

Kalliel continued to battle Avarice, just playing with her for his amusement (well, that's how he saw it in his egotistical brain). After a few more minutes, he banished the swords for a staff, and danced around her singing loudly. "Can't catch me!" and made strange faces.

Kusi nearly got her head chopped off by one of the brave few left alive that she was torturing while she laughed at her boyfriend. She caught the creature - who was so disfigured from her fire it was now impossible to tell what it had been originally - in the chest and knocked it into an unflattened boulder nearby, before resuming her play with the poor former soldiers.

Kalliel had once again switched, this time to a scythe. He had it for only a few minutes before it vanished, seemingly taken by someone else, and an enormous sword appeared in the male's hands shortly after. He used it for a while before changing weapons again, back to his swords. Avarice's sword dashed one of them to the ground, and underneath the larger weapon, the blade shattered.

Kalliel stared at the blade for barely a second before attacking Avarice with all his strength. "YOU BROKE MY SWORD!" he shrieked. His mad thrusts and strikes would have left him wide open if Avarice hadn't been forced to counter them. She finally vanished with her sword.

Kusi eyed him with a slight grin. "Alright Robin, your hair gel's safe."

Kalliel crossed his eyes at her. "I'd save you and my sword if you were dangling off a cliff, 'cause I'd use my tail."

Kusi laughed. "You know, we'd better go stop Draug from telling your mom."

"And having her go ballistic, you mean?" Kalliel asked, rubbing his jaw, where small pockmarks dotted it.

* * *

Risa was irritated. Risa was angry. Risa was furious. Risa was going to murder her some demon ass and she was going to do it with Draug's skinny little neck ripped from his-

"Risa. Risa, breathe," Crest ordered, shoving the irate dragon queen back into her seat under a stern gaze.

Risa looked ready to pull a Gwen and burst into flames, so Crest dumped some water on her as a pre-emptive strike. "Calm down," she ordered sternly. "You're acting like a little kid about to throw a temper tantrum."

"My son is probably dead," Risa snapped. "And you want me to calm down! Idiot overconfident megalomaniacal-"

"You wouldn't be talking about me, would you be, Mother?" Kalliel asked, walking in nonchalantly.

"Where's Kusi?" Draug asked, raising an eyebrow.

"She's right here," Kusi said dryly, shimmering as she appeared. "Just testing out Linny and Lithy's latest spell."

"Right," Crest said, holding Risa down as best as she could. "Risa, could you not go berserk? It's rather annoying to deal with you trying."

"You don't need to worry 'bout that demon army anymore, by the way," Kalliel said to Draug. "The only ones that didn't die were running for their measly little lives away from Kusi."

"Or from your size," Kusi interrupted. "Come on, you're the dragon who crushed the world. Or at least two cliffs, and a few thousand demons."

"You're the one who did in the rest of the army while I fought with Avarice," Kalliel drawled.

"Like it's that hard to set a bunch of people on fire," Kusi pointed out. "Bodies are pretty flammable, after all."

Risa growled something incomprehensible and disappeared.

"Where'd she go?" Draug asked.

"Probably to kill something," Kalliel said, shrugging.

* * *

_If there was one thing Risa had failed to learn in her life, it was how not to approach a situation. One should never, ever, _ever_ just go berserk and run in like a crazed idiot. It is always best to take a mature, calm, and rationally logical view of things before proceeding on with what should be a diverting round of bloodletting. Never let any enemy get you by surprise, or by the horns, or in the case of a guy by the...well, actually, we'll pause here and just watch the stalkerboys for a minute. It's clear they can't hear a thing. If you'd like to know why, it's probably best to understand that there's a stark naked woman fighting nearby. Actually, make that two naked women fighting._

_Oh no, I'm not a narrator, please understand. I'm just a...concerned father, who may just be a little concerned about ah, Lady Avarice's, well...appendages. It's for her own good, naturally. (And who doesn't like shiny things?)_

_Oh well, this is another matter entirely. IDIOT GIRL- Oh, right she can't hear me while I'm in our spot, Erthye. I'll be back after I set someone straight._

Risa gasped at the wound opened along her shin, but swung her sword up to block. Just as quickly as she blocked, Avarice had gotten under the now red-eyed queen's guard, and shot a hefty dose of Dragonsbane into her. She watched with disappointment as Risa floundered. "I should've thought to get you in dragon shape so I'd know the right killing dose," she murmured. "Wouldn't wanna risk making the first dragon-zombie or something. Wonder if I could take it down with one...?" She tapped an elegant finger musingly on gold-frosted lips, a tiny smirk on her face.

_Get away from my daughter now, little demon bratling._

"Oh yes, I'd heard one of her parents was a god." Avarice turned to face him coolly, russet hair stirring only the tiniest bit. She looked him up and down, and slowly, an eyebrow inched up her face. "Seriously. The God of the Dragons, and you're a shiny, _pink_, fat winged thing."

_I am _not_ fat! And the pink is just my mate's way of teasing me about paying attention to mortals._

"It is pretty stupid of you, but then again, you can be killed, so," her hand drew another syringe, "Technically you're not immortal, hmm, Athiyk?"

In retrospect, eating her hand was probably overkill. But damnit, it tasted like chicken! _**Chicken!**_ Who could possibly resist that flavorfully delicious nommiful smell? Not even the gods were so well-equipped!

_It's sad she left in such a hurry though_, the dragon god said, leaning down to poke his daughter with a claw. _She really does have lovely appendages, that young demon._

* * *

Now, why is it that pretty much EVERY SINGLE GUY I WRITE comes off as a pervert? At least Athiyk is a lot more harmless about it though. (And by the way Risa, when you're reading this, I just want you to remember that you did originally have him as being a pervert. I added the rest to his luminous character myself. But you said S'argt got the idiocy - pervertedness included - from Athiyk. Just in case he decides to gripe. xD)


	20. Probables Sospechos

Whee, new chapter. It's main purpose is to allow me to give my own weird take on Risa's past, show off a very random, very split second cameo of one of my the random people in my head, and give some clarification to what the hell is going on (unless it makes you more confused, in which case, I'm sorry).

Also, I don't hate retarded people. I have several retarded friends (come to think of it, I have friends who are just about everything - the only ones I'm missing are aliens, I think) and they're fun. Sorrow, however, just enjoys being obscenely creative. This chapter, by the way, introduces the (hopefully) only crack-pairing of all these characters in concept form. AKA the only one we never really thought of. Risa, I'm sorry. Title in Spanish just because. It translates to 'likely suspects'. See, I'm studying for Spanish exams, whoo!

_Probables Sospechos_

_Are you awake yet, dragonet?_

Risa awoke with three things: a sudden jolt, a giant pink, sparkly snout in her face, and a very loud and prolonged scream. Once she'd calmed down, she said, "Actually, come to think of it, this isn't the worst way I've woken up..."

_What is the worst?_

"Every day when I was sixteen," Risa said, "And all of my pregnancies." She stood up, shoving the snout away, and summoned some clothing to wear. "Who are you?"

_Athiyk, and ah....your father...._

Risa blinked. "You know, when Mom said she had me with a god, I thought she meant good in bed, not an actual god. Should I bow or something?"

_No. I hate bowing, it's so incredibly boring to handle a dance of manners._

"Erm, no offense to my existence and all, since I can guess as to why you saved my life and all, but why did you bother to have two mortal kids?" Risa asked, struggling with a shirt that seemed to have a mind of its own.

_My mate, Erthye, had some visions. She's not the dragon goddess or anything, just another immortal. With lovely appendages..._

Risa eyed his blissful, hooked, toothy smile and flinched slightly. "Mom was right. S'argt did get the pervertedness from you."

_I simply appreciate beauty in the ladies, no matter their species._

Risa snickered at the haughty tone. "Sureee. What were these visions about?" she asked.

**I saw one you already know, and those necessary for its defeat.**

Risa raised an eyebrow at Athiyk's mate, a slender, spiny fae. "Hello?" she said, hesitant. "Er...you're Erthye, I take it?"

**He never uses my full name, but as you've already mangled it, I hardly see any reason to force you to garble the other.**

"Ah, right," Risa said, tugging a strand of her long hair. "And it was a good idea not to mention it to anyone but my father?"

**It was unnecessary, mortal. Mortals follow their destinies, regardless of knowledge of them or not.**

_Except for that Kalliel. Every time one of you old stylers, with your ideas of fate, try to mold his, he breaks it and any nearby fates at the earliest opportunity._

Risa snorted. "Kalliel breaks most things. Hearts, faces, melts your brain...the works."

**Kalliel is an annoying twit of a mortal, and he keeps on stopping that silly fire-hair's fate.**

_She has a name, Erthye dear. Kusire, and she's as bad about breaking fates as Kalliel is._

**I still don't like either of them!**

"Did anyone say you had to?" Risa demanded, crossing her arms. "I don't, but this whole fate thing honestly makes me glad Kalliel is my son." She shot a red-eyed glare at Erthye.

**The fire-hair's mother is just as bad. She should have died when she was born, not been kept alive by a Fallen Star.**

"Well I'm glad Gwen is alive, and I dare you to tell her she should have died," Risa snapped, scowling further. "Want me to fetch her and let her land her tamper on your over-stuffed, over-indulged ego?"

**You dare, mortal?**

_She dares because she is my daughter. She dares because she is a queen, and because she is not insignificant, my dear._

"And she dares because we all know I'd kick your whiny, spiny ass," Gwen snapped. She didn't seem to be anywhere in particular. "Shut up and go back home, both of you."

**Mortals should not be ordering gods around!**

"Want to see how mortal I am?" Gwen sounded disgusted. "I've survived everything you've thrown at me, even your aid to the Star who took my body. So shut up and leave the mortal realms, since you disdain them so much."

_I shall have to go after her, of course. Good day, daughter, Gwendolyn._

"Ugh, I hate gods," Gwen said, materializing next to her friend. Her hair looked singed, and her skin was sooty. "I had to talk to Kusi," she explained to Risa's questioning look.

"The fat pink dragon was my dad, apparently," Risa drawled, rolling her eyes.

Gwen cracked up laughing. "I knew there was a reason you and your brother were weird children."

"Just because I couldn't speak till I was five says nothing about my heritage," Risa sniffed, before laughing as well. "It probably does, I guess, but who cares."

* * *

Sorrow was trying to concentrate on making the damn poison, but Kiroto was lurking in the shadows of her laboratory and being a damn nuisance by...hovering. Like an anxious mother hen or something. The mental image of him sitting on a nest with feather and a beak was comic enough to stop her muttered swearing for a minute as she suppressed her laughter, but the swearwords soon returned to her lips, along with some new, unpleasant descriptions of just how Kiroto was likely to have been conceived, and the peculiar conditions that might have caused it. (Her personal favorite involved the thornbush, the donkey, and the retard, but she was saving that for when she wanted to cause him a lot of embarrassment).

"Aren't you done yet?" he demanded for the fifty-second time that day- no, wait, that hour. It just felt like a day, having put up with his shrill-voiced nagging for an hour. She didn't relish the thought of what it would be like by the end of the day, and briefly considered turning him into a lamp for peace (or for smashing). With her luck, and her habit of not labeling potions, though, she felt it would be more likely she'd give him wings or something. The results of some of those Earthly chemicals on his immune system could be tempting to test out, especially the liquid nitor stuff. She couldn't remember the name, but she knew it could kill people, somehow.

Sorrow settled for continuing her threats and swears, instead of actually answering him. A bit too much of the belladonna slipped into her mixture, and she backed away swiftly, muscles tensed. Belladonna either made or broke the potion, but by the vapours the mixture began to emit, she knew she was in the clear. Sorrow corked the vial carefully, and set it alongside a row of vials containing other mixtures, and attempted to invent a civil way to remove Kiroto from her lab. Defenestration sounded good, but it was hardly civil. Besides the civility issue, of course, she only had one level, and the only way to leave a mark on someone that way was to throw them from at least three stories. Sorrow scowled at the row of vials fiercely. Her blue skin was beginning to tinge gold as her irritation mounted. The plump half-dragon did her best to ignore him.

"Aren't you done yet?" That was the fifty-third time.

Sorrow's scowl deepened, and the gold spread. Why her skin was blue, she blushed purple, and turned gold when irritated was easily explained by the fact that she was half-Drow, and half-dragon. Just why the particular combination had led to _her_ was less easily explained of course, but she enjoyed being unique. Except for the whole 'turns-gold-when-angry' bit. Being discreet with her emotions would have been far easier if she didn't have that problem. At least Kiroto hadn't commented on her changing skin color. The impatient brat was fixated on finding out what she was doing, instead of waiting around till she was done and then implementing it for her. A low growl escaped from her throat, but her handling of the latest vial for another gas was gentle.

"Aren't you friggin' done yet?" At least he'd added a new word this time.

Sorrow breathed deeply and exhaled before turning to him. "_No._ If you must be impatient, do it somewhere when I'm not around. Potions are far more difficult than you realize, Master Brute Force."

He glared at her. "I'm working for Slade," Kiroto spat.

"So am I, sweetcheeks, and I'm a little more used to this whole evil deceptions deal than you are." Sorrow stood akimbo, and smirked slightly at him. "Slade has something guiding him, and I've done this my whole life. You, on the other hand, skip every little subtlety to get the big hits, which is why you've never had a single lasting effect." Turning her back on him contemptuously, she began to mix another vial of gas.

Kiroto was silenced, thankfully, and she continued her work uninterrupted for the next few hours. Her hands were steady, and she gradually forgot about his presence. Her row of vials filled up, and they all bubbled with opaque green and violet gases. She smiled brightly, fangs flashing. "This should fill even that palace up," Sorrow said with satisfaction. She raised a hand and flicked her fingers in a spell. The vials floated from the shelf, gathering around her as she opened a large leather bag lined with hundreds of openings for tubes and vials. Each carefully landed in her hand before being placed in a spot. The bag was soon full, and she slung it over her shoulder. "Now we're done, youngling," she told Kiroto, spotting him. "Come with me. We're going to pay a visit to little-bitty Risa's palace and leave a present. Isn't that nice?" Her sweet voice notwithstanding, she looked as intimidating as a short woman could. Kiroto decided to just go along with it.

The flight to Risa's palace was easy. Evidently, the guards had all forgotten that two of the people who would ally themselves - temporarily, at least - with Slade could turn into dragons. The small blue-and-gold scaled dragon was followed by a wary, enormous black one, and Kiroto was forced to notice that several female dragon guards gave him highly interested glances. He might have returned them, but only when Sorrow wasn't looking on to snicker.

They landed, and proceeded towards the living quarters, spelled invisible in their two-legger forms. Suddenly there was a hiss, and a huge cat tackled Kiroto. While he handled her, Sorrow quickly set up the vials of gas and oepned them all with a sweep of her hand into the vents. The vents were spelled with magic to funnel air into all parts of the palace. That finished, Sorrow frowned at Kiroto, who had tossed the cat into the wall, and she was slowly shaking dizziness off. Wordlessly, she took to the air, back in her dragon form, and he followed. Better not to stay and try fighting a giant cat again.

Their flight was short and uneventful, and when they returned to Hell to report, Sorrow had the 'honor' of giving the report and trying not to choke on the Beast's smell.

"The ah, helper you gave me was distinctively annoying," she said, "However, by tomorrow, the palace will be incapacitated."

Bad Luck, who had been waiting to give her report, tilted her head, and enormous braid, to give Sorrow a weird look. Silence persisted for several minutes (excluding some coughing, and Slade's manic giggles) while wide red and green eyes (the assassin had one of each, it seemed) assessed the half-Drow. Then: "Do you have the hots for him?" she asked.

Sorrow fell over, gaped, stammered something that she thought was an insult, and fled. She was a freaking grandma! She was not interested in some bone-headed twenty-something dragon.

Not even if he did happen to be hotter than Hell.

_Shit_.

* * *

Down in the sometimes-capitol of Lycanth, Crest was drilling some young werewolves who had volunteered to do border patrol in the mountains. Her hair was cropped short, and the black spikes were held back by a red bandanna, which had so far escaped getting cut through by the overeager youngster with a dagger. She waved a hand briefly. "Stop. Let's pick this apart, cublings."

The werewolves pouted at the nickname, but didn't argue it. She gestured at the dagger-wielding one. "You're too wild. You leave yourself completely open, and if I really wanted to, I could kill you with the mere expense of another, small scar." She turned on one who'd stayed in his werewolf shape. "You don't have any imagination. You should use your surrounding to your advantage. In a fight for your life, you can't afford to play with half a deck."

Both looked properly chagrined, and she wheeled on the other two, who were apparently dating (or something). "You two cannot afford to protect each other all the time. You have to work solo sometimes, or protect someone else, and you can't abandon them just to help each other." They blushed, protests forming, but Crest cut them off. "The four of you have not been working together at all. If it's you four against a group of any number, you have to work in conjunction."

"No one does that anywhere," protested the overeager one.

Crest raised both eyebrows. "How on earth do you think Draug and I fight?" She rolled her eyes. "If the four of you can't take me together, I can't let you fight."

"You've got twelve years of experience on us," protested one of the two dating.

Crest's grin was completely feral. "I learned how to fight with him at eight, so you'd better make that twenty years, cub." She didn't give any warning and leaped onto the one in his wolf shape. The new attack was brief, unprepared for, and ended with all four youngsters on the ground, paralyzed for the moment, and Crest without a scratch. She rolled her eyes and flicked a heling spell at them. The bright pink magic washed over them, and their muscles began to relax. "We're done for the day," she said, and walked off. She had paperwork to do.

The slight scratching sound behind her alerted her, and she threw the person over her shoulder and had them pinned in three seconds. Draug gazed up at her with surprise and she began to laugh.

"I see you're still paranoid from dealing with teenagers," he said, trying to repair his injured dignity.

"I see you forgot about them," she replied, and kissed him to distract him.

When they were quite done with kissing, Crest helped him up. "So, you evidently wanted to talk to me," she drawled.

"Yes. I actually had a few things," he said.

Crest listened as he mentioned some political things he needed help on. Apparently, one of his werewolf lordlings disliked the idea of war, arguing that there was no possible way the Beast could be loose- even though Draug had gotten Kusi to show the idiot a scrying of Slade and said Beast. There were several lordlings who were angry that they still weren't allowed to completely slaughter some human village to the north, and some other human village out west in the country was trying to protest their rule by a werewolf.

"Oh, and the last thing," Draug said, "Would you marry me?"

Crest walked into the palace's gate and fell backwards, landing with a spectacular noise. She stared at him for a minute, whacked her head, and finally blinked. "Say that again?"

"Would you marry me? I have a ring and everything," he said, looking nervous.

Crest pulled him down next to her and kissed him. "Yes," she said, when she broke away.

* * *

D'aww. I think that's the all-time fluffiest thing I've ever written, full-stop. At least the next chapter involves less fluffy stuff most of the way through. Except there's more at the end... ;-;

Somehow I am writing a romance story (because that's basically what this whole thing is) when I am the least romantically inclined person I know. That's kind of sad. XD;


	21. The Gas

I'M SORRY RISA. AGAIN.

Also, this is very fragmentedly weird. Sorry 'bout that. Also, I'm sorry Sarah. If you ever read this, I mean. xD;;

This chapter appears to be rather less... fully dramatically overloaded than I originally thought it would be. That's probably good. I hope. I don't really like this chapter, but I appear to have lost my notes on it.

Ohyeah, I lied a little bit, since this is going up on the 17th. But I finished it before today, so /technically/ I'm not working on fanfiction. xD;? Right? (Also, this whole chapter feels fragmenty to me...)

The Gas

Gwen coughed. She'd started hacking a little over an hour ago, and it was beginning to get worrying. The air felt heavier as well, she'd noticed in a vague sort of matter. A hand on her shoulder nearly got the person behind her burned, but she relaxed at the claws. "Hey Koto," she said, and coughed again.

He handed her a glass of water. "Are you alright, Gwen?" he asked, looking concerned.

"I really don't know," she said, sipping it. It eased her throat at least, and the oddly familiar scratching sensation in it. "My head's starting to ache too," she said, reaching up to rub her forehead. Her green eyes flickered shut for a brief moment, and she missed his frown deepen.

"I'm practically the only person in her not coughing," he observed. "And Lithal hasn't been seen for an hour or two."

"Linath hasn't been seen for longer," Gwen said, and had another coughing spasm. The glass, dropped, shattered. Koto caught her as the coughing worsened and she stumbled.

"You're worse than everyone else," he said, hauling her away from the glass. Then he noticed something, and his eyes widened. "Gwen...is the air colored?"

She blinked watering eyes and squinted. "It's..." another cough interrupted. "Purple and green." She swore violently before beginning to cough again. The colors were very faint now, and now that she was aware of it, she could feel magic. _If I'd known earlier..._ she thought, now noticing that her brain had been getting muddier for the past few hours.

Koto coughed for the first time now, and helped Gwen further away from the shattered glass. Sudden screams alerted them to something happening, followed by a clash of swords, running, and the sounds of more clashes. The two peered into the nearest room, and before they got a faceful of gas from a nearby vent, they saw Karashean and K'thonya in pitched battle.

Gwen, coughing stopped, turned to Koto. Her eyes were dulled, but she attacked with purpose. Green light spun towards his heart, even as his eyes turned red and he snarled.

* * *

Down below, in the courtyard, Lithal finally made it to her feet. The huge black dragon had knocked her back into the wall when he left, and she was still dazed. She wasn't sure how she'd gone back to human form either, but Lithal felt her brain beginning to start back up.

She didn't hear the sounds of fighting inside the palace, and she even missed the window that went flying by her head. Lithal had something to do, and she knew it without knowing how she knew it.

She was going to find out where the hell her boyfriend was.

* * *

Koto ducked under Gwen's outspread arm and pinned her to the ground. Even as his bared fangs went for her throat, a shield of emerald exploded around her. He went flying, and slammed into a nearby column. He was up again, and slashed through her shield. They fought hand to hand for a brief moment, before Gwen just plain started glowing green.

_STOPSTOPWHYCAN'TISTOPIT?_ the words echoed in her brain from somewhere far away and distant. There wasn't much meaning to it, and the bolt nearly caught Koto. He came up beneath it and slammed her against the wall. The voice and its scream grew fainter.

* * *

Graille was choking in the Healer's Bay. Not on the smoke, but in the stranglehold the healer Eve had on her. Her snakes ineffectually bit at the hand of the other, but Eve was part-Gorgon as well, and thus was unharmed.

Nearby, another couple of healers had set part of the room ablaze.

No voice was screaming within Graille's head anymore. It was gone.

* * *

No voices screamed their horror inside of Queen Chandrisa's mind as she coolly jabbed a sword through her husband's shoulder. She dodged his weak attempt for her head, a smirk playing across her beautiful face. Another sword flicked out from her side, and she considered it, before blocking another wild swing.

Just outside their bedroom, a pair of dragons duelled by the claw.

* * *

Gwen faltered under the blows from Koto. The strange images forcefully flashing around inside her head were so very distracting! And the voice hadn't stopped its litany. Indeed, it grew stronger as the fight continued. It was so very odd.

The fight drew on, and on, and the voice was growing stronger.

* * *

"This is entertaining," Kiroto said, munching on a bowl of the human treat known as popcorn. "I didn't know the idiot had it anywhere in him to hurt anyone."

Sorrow chuckled. "My beauty brings out hate," she purred. "And it replaces it as the only emotion. For a short while, there will be a little voice shrieking at you to stop, but my gas kills that off the more the person does something that appalls the voice." A contented smile shaped itself on her features. "The gas will wear off by tomorrow evening, but the survivors will be so horriffied they'll most likely kill themselves." She gave a happy sigh.

Kiroto laughed. "Did you see that! Ben just got the Queen with the bed!" His laughter filled the night air, and the two continued to watch happened through a scrying spell.

* * *

The voice hadn't friggin' stopped. Maybe it should take over again, if it was so persistent. Once it realized it was wrong, maybe it would shut up and get on with things.

Gwen's eyes brightened again in the gloom, and the voice shouted the last thing it had been screaming at the gas' effects. "-I WON'T BE ABLE TO SAY I LOVE HIM!" Her voice and movement stopped abruptly.

Koto gave her a puzzled red-eyed look before leaping for her. She stumbled away, wide-eyed. All she remembered was so blurry. He'd been helping her and then...and then...this. She swallowed, dodging another attempted jump, and streaked away. Koto gave chase.

Gwen felt about the air, feeling the spell and the magic imbued in the gas. Now she could work on it. How to...

She flipped through her knowledge of magic, before she remembered the exact spells. Sorrow had done this, and she must have known how absolutely humiliating any remedy was.

And how potentially deadly.

* * *

"There is one remedy though," Sorrow said, smirking wider as she watched the scene between Gwen and Koto playing out. "And if Gwendolyn has managed to break loose, then we're still in for more entertainment tonight."

"What is it?" Kiroto asked.

"Well, it's one of those rather physical spells," the half-dragon said, her snickers starting. "Involves a lot of tongue and stuff, you know." She flicked her eyes back to the screen, snorting as she watched Gwen's shoulders square.

His jaw dropped, and then he began to laugh and laugh and laugh, until he was actually crying.

"If it's done wrong," Sorrow added, helpfully. "The caster and castee both tend to fall dead." She shook her head mock-pityingly. "These love-spells..."

* * *

Gwen turned around, lifted her hands, and had Koto pinned to the wall. With her unaware, her magic had been very weak. Now, it was too strong for him to cut through.

"This had better work," she announced. The spell shimmered around her as she spoke it aloud. It was quite possibly the only one she'd spoken in years, having learned to do them in her head almost as soon as she began them. Rose, green, and tiny bits of orange flared around her, and slowly around Koto.

"Gwen, what..." The shielding that had pinned him faded, and he reached up to rub his head. He really wasn't prepared for her to kiss him as soon as he moved.

The impromptu make-out session only ended when they ran out of air, and by that point (as they had extraordinarily good lungs), they actually had a watcher or two.

"Not that I'm not happy, but...why now?" Koto asked.

Gwen looked oddly exhausted, and he discovered that questions were going to have to wait when she passed out in his arms.

* * *

"I thought you meant they were going to get down and dirty in the middle of the hallway," Kiroto griped.

Sorrow sighed. "I guess she knew another counter-spell...that's sad." She pouted spectacularly.

"Too bad," they chorused.

* * *

"So...." K'thonya said, wincing as the awkward pause dragged onwards.

Karashean rubbed his neck, blushing.

They avoided eye contact for another few minutes. There was a sword buried next to K'thonya's neck and she was pinned to the floor by Karashean's bulk...which apparently had been helped to stay there by her still rather firm grip on his shirt.

"Do you have any idea how and why we're bleeding on the floor like this...?" he asked, as they avoided eye contact.

"I don't know, but we should probably get up before anyone decides to try blackmail..."

_Invisible, a teenager from the not too-far flung future covered his snickering with a hand and vanished._

Released from her hold, Karashean stood and pulled the half-Gorgon to her feet. "You know, I don't know any construction spells," he said, looking around.

"Yep, we're kind of screwed, I think," K'thonya said.

Karashean spotted activity in the hallway. "Hmm...Koto's carrying Gwen, and there's a few people laughing...."

"Did they finally give in to the UST and go for it in the hallway?" K'thonya asked, somehow bringing her head over his shoulder to look.

"I don't know...but possibly. Given the way the guy's blushing, probably," the dragon demon said, smothering a burst of laughter. He might be a very nice guy normally, but prolonged exposure to 'thonya appeared to be giving him a sarcastic and slightly caustic edge.

The two soon decided they should just leave the room to whatever cleanup crew (might) be going. K'thonya rather suspected she'd be the one organizing any cleanup, though, because Risa and Ben were probably the least responsive monarchs ever.

* * *

Shortly after clean-up was finished (the spells only took around two days, with Gwen's power behind them), Risa, who had finally left her room, husband in tow, announced that "Oh, by the way, we're going to go make some treaty or something official on earth or whatever."

The only possible response to that was some minor amusement from certain people, eye-rolls from others, and shrugs from some people who had already know.

Later, when Risa had the opportunity achieved by stalk- er, luck, she grabbed Gwen. "You are going to spend that night discussing things with Koto," she said, poking her friend in the stomach. "I heard what spell you used. He's under similar threats from Ben- you'll be a default babysitter if you don't. Don't think I don't know you haven't been avoiding him since you got him."

Gwen flushed. "I used a variant of the spell," she snapped. "It only required a kiss, not your perverted voyeurism favorite!"

"Whatever. I have to sign something...or something like that. K'thonya told me, but I didn't pay attention." Risa released her and walked along to her meeting, casually ducking the large spittoon the mage hurled at her back. "Why do we have a spittoon anyway?" she yelled over her shoulder as she departed.

* * *

For your information, UST is **U**nresolved **S**exual **T**ension. Look up spittoons on Wikipedia- they're really one of the weirder creations of humankind. And that's saying something. I originally discovered them in _Spring Pearl_, one of those more young adult-ish book things that American Girl published in the earlier '00s. (It is so WEIRD to say that.)

Anyhow, I predict that once exams are over, 22 will be hardly any time at all in coming. I already had it half-way finished last night, and I discovered that Drama class isn't conducie to studying, just messing around. Something about the annoying movies we're watching cranked _all the fricking way up_.


	22. UST Resolved

For anyone who doesn't know, UST is unresolved sexual tension. And it's pretty much something that two certain characters had a very large amount of. xD

I didn't mention the Bushes by their actual names (I'm not sure why, but now I'm too lazy to edit it), but I don't own them either. Or Fox TV. Or any other random things in here that you spot. -shrug-

The pink-haired girl is not Aelita, and she will appear in an epilogue at the end of this. xD

UST - Resolved (Sort of)

"Do I really have to go in full clan regalia?"K'thonya complained, adjusting the bracer on her left arm. "I'm not fully Gorgon, and I don't really work with my clan, you know..."

"Your clan is all your half-sisters," Risa said pitilessly. "They decided you were the most appropriate choice."

"You mean the only one that wouldn't tackle one of the humans and demand he add to our gene pool?" the half-elf snorted, trying to adjust the traditional wear of a Gorgon representative. "That does not mean I have to wear this."

"Someone has to look sluttier than me," Risa said cheerfully, a smug smirk on her face. "And it sure wasn't going to be Crestie."

"If you call me that one more time, so help me I will rip off your head," Crest threatened. She leaned against the wall, watching the other two fussing over their appearance. "I do so love being a werewolf," she added, examining her claws. "No dresses for me," she said, smirking nastily at Risa, who glared.

"Show-off," the dragon barked.

K'thonya growled and tore off the tiny metal outfit. (It wasn't hard to do, seeing as the get-up was entirely made of very tiny chains that couldn't possibly count as clothing). Since they'd somehow converged on her room, she went into her wardrobe and came out with her military uniform, stuck her tongue out at Risa, and proceeded to change, leaving the blindfold she'd been wearing in place. It really was a good thing that certain spells allowed a person to see through materials, or the Gorgons and part-Gorgons would be screwed in any other society.

"You can't do that!" Risa wailed.

"Oh yes I can," K'thonya said, and snickered. She leaned next to Crest. "You could always flout your idiot councillors too."

Risa scowled for a second, and then shrugged. Silver tugged at the edges of her dress, and the skirt soon brushed the ground. "You do know that neither of you is in Earth formalwear?"

"Yep," Crest said, beaming. "And no, we don't care." She bowed to Risa, and strode out the door. K'thonya, smirking, followed the werewolf.

Risa sighed as dramatically as she could, and flounced out behind them, slamming the door for the sound effect. She found her husband waiting nearby, with Karashean and Draug, who both looked bored (until they spotted K'thonya and Crest, of course).

"Why isn't Gwen coming with us?" Ben asked.

Risa smirked. "She's going to be having a highly long over-due chat with Koto." Her smirk unfolded into a grin. "If we're lucky, they might remember to use a closet."

K'thonya whacked Risa in the arm. "Risa, be nice. Not everyone goes at it like bunnies."

"Just you two," Crest said, giggling at Ben and Risa. She propped her elbows on K'thonya's shoulders, ignoring the snakes that investigated her skin. "Gwen told me this fascinating story about you two and something involving a press conference, whatever that is... She said it took a lot of power to cover that up."

Ben and Risa flushed completely crimson. "Sh-sh-shut up!" Ben stammered.

"The red clashes with the green, your Majesty," K'thonya said, covering up a laugh.

He scowled at her and muttered dark oaths. (Why one of them involved chickens and MTV was...well, something only Ben would understand, really.)

"You know, it just occurred to me that Crest is clueless about Earth protocol stuff," Risa said, swivelling her head to look at her.

"I won't try to eat any of them, if you're worried about that," Crest grumbled, "And I manage at your court, so I don't think it should matter too much."

"Well...there's cameras, and videos, and they have this whole women-have-to-wear-dresses idea," Risa said, shrugging. "But you can manage, I guess."

Crest shrugged, since she didn't really understand it. Lycanth was fairly primitive technologically, even for a magical world, and so, comprehending something like cameras would be nigh impossible for her - she had never messed up a spell that tossed her on earth, after all.

"Well, let's go. I imagine appearing in the middle of the reporters should cause a bit of a stir." She poked her husband. "Okay- you've been to the White House before, you can do the transportation spell. I'd probably mess it up."

"You always mess them up," K'thonya said, smirking.

Ben rolled his eyes as the two friends bickered, and worked the spell for the whole group.

* * *

Koto managed to sneak up on Gwen, and he wasn't quite sure how. But she had shrieked when he poked her, and nearly blasted the wall out of place. Luckily, she had extremely swift reactions, so the wall remained intact, but with a scorch mark, and he was unharmed.

"Ben kind of ordered me to talk to you," he said, after a few minutes of awkward silence had stretched thin, flat, and dead.

"Risa said the same thing to me," Gwen said, finding that the wall near Koto's head was extremely fascinating. The textures almost looked like little monsters if you squinted.

The silence stretched on and on and on until Koto's stomach made a very interesting noise. He flushed. "I guess I'm hungry." They grinned, because he'd said that pretty much all the time when they were teenagers, and then the two started laughing.

Risa had 'thoughtfully' left the door to her private kitchen open, and so the two went looking for something in there. Koto was on friendly terms with the kitchen staff of the Great Hall, but Gwen had been banned for four years and running, after she accidentally blew one of the stoves up while attempting to make something.

Koto finally ended up finding a bunch of chicken wings, kept in the icebox, probably from the previous night. The two had an unspoken agreement that Gwen should not try to heat them up - it was likely to lead to an interesting mess. The girl had honestly set a bowl of cereal on fire in her early teens, in front of the startled eyes of her aunt, uncle, cousin, and three live-in-friends. After that, no one let her in even the pantry.

After some contemplative eyeing of the chicken, the two just decided to forego heating it. It was fairly fresh, and it had been cooked before it was left in the icebox. After they finished, there was a far longer, far more awkward pause as they stared at everything but each other. Even a person with no senses at all could have felt the awkward tension in the room, it was just that prolific.

* * *

While Gwen and Koto were awkward together, K'thonya and Karashean were experiencing awkward of a different sort. Reporters had yet to relinquish the general and her boyfriend. They were still running their hands through her snakes, gasping each time one of the snakes moved or hissed, jerking their hands away with a startled, open-mouthed expression. The others were peering at Karashean's eyes, examining his tail, and prodding the spike on his head gingerly.

If it had only been a few minutes, K'thonya wouldn't have been so impatient. However, this had been going on for well over an hour. Risa and Ben had been showing off their dragon forms by flying around in the sky (the area around the White House was far too small to touch down in), but they'd finally changed back and gone inside around twenty minutes past. Crest had changed very briefly to werewolf form before changing back, and she and Draug had been watching the spectacle with the president and his wife for the entire time period.

"It's been almost two hours now," K'thonya groaned as the Fox reporter practically drooled over her snakes. "Can we please go inside? Please? My hair can't possibly be that interesting."

"But...your 'hair' is snakes, it's so unreal," the reporter protested, obviously having forgotten that she was still being filmed.

"Half the people I know have snakes. It really isn't that weird," K'thonya said, rolling her eyes. "And I've been on Earth before. Very few of the people I've met gaped so."

Embarrassed, the reporters around her finally surged backwards, slowly realizing, as they did so, just how stupid they'd looked on national TV. Some nudged their counterparts who obsessed over the dragon demon, and soon the two were free to make their way into the White House, mercifully unescorted.

"Humans are so _strange_," Karashean muttered, "None of the ones I met last time were so invasive."

"That seems to be because you only met Gwen and Ben, I think," K'thonya said. "I only met a few more. It's rather perplexing why some of them are so moronic though, isn't it?"

He nodded agreement, and they finally were inside.

"Finally," Ben said from his perch near the window. "It took you two long enough. I'd have thought they'd have gravitated to Risa, since that's what people usually do."

"Unless there's my hair involved, it appears," K'thonya drawled, rubbing her forehead over the veil. A hand ran through her snakes and she stiffened slightly.

"Sorry," said the First Lady, "But it's very hard to believe you're real."

K'thonya's shoulder slumped. Somehow, the feeling this would be a long night had just turned into the feeling that it would be an endless night.

* * *

They'd been blushing, attempting to stammer, blushing even more, and occasionally swearing mentally, for twenty minutes now. The situation really was far more helpless than Risa, at the White House, was imagining as she handled diplomacy over dinner, while eavesdropping on Ben's discussion of their children with a slightly perplexed First Lady.

Gwen had been blushing worse than Koto, but his redness seemed to be catching up. Neither had even looked at each other. Gwen, indeed, found the patterns of the table very interesting, and Koto...well, actually, Koto had been a little distracted by certain parts of Gwen's anatomy, so technically he _was_ looking at her...just not at _at_ her.

The awkward silence persisted, and the dead silence and lack of movement in the room might have convinced a casual observed that neither of the two was actually alive. Occasionally, a more astute observer might spot one of them open their mouth, and then snap it shut. Within the quiet, the sounds of noises downstairs could be heard.

Finally, Koto managed a strangled. "Risa's going to kill us both if we don't say something."

Gwen nodded fervently, but avoided his gaze.

"So, um, it was just a spell that you used to get rid of the hate gas?" Koto asked, shifting his gaze painstakingly to the floor. It really needed a good cleaning, and he actually didn't want to know what some of the stuff under the dust was.

"Um, yeah," Gwen mumbled. Goodness, the table really was interesting. It even had a group of swearwords carved into it, and Gwen could only guess it came from Rhia's claws.

"So, erm, it wasn't something you'd do by, ummm...choice...?" Koto said, voice oddly strangled.

Gwen's head jerked up just in time to catch him looking at her. The dark flushes across their faces immediately paled. "No, I yes, but no, but..." Gwen babbled, unable to come up with a proper response. Koto tilted his head in confusion.

_Right now_, noted the only cool part of Gwen's brain, _I have three options. Lie, and say that it isn't something I'd do willingly, and make this more awkward. Continue babbling and use a spell to pass out so I delay dealing with it. Tell the truth or just kiss him right now. You know, I really like that last option._

While the rest of Gwen's brain floundered and babbled something incomprehensible, the other part, which apparently was far more impulsive, went ahead and leaned forward across the small table to kiss Koto, who had been just about to form an apology.

They didn't end up hiding out in the closet. Instead, they walked downstairs, talking (and still blushing profusely), working out a plot to keep Risa in the dark as long as possible. Having experienced the horrors of Risa's wedding, and knowing her as well as they did, it was just better to avoid her attempts at pushing a marriage at them straight away. If they'd been normal friends, her falling asleep next to him would have been sort of a giveaway that something had changed, but as often as these two were in and out of trouble together...it was honestly a frequent occurrence. Usually they missed the bed when they crashed after whatever random insanity had happened that time though.

_An invisible girl who normally had pink hair didn't bother stifling her giggles - she knew they were both quite asleep, and she was always glad for blackmail ops.

* * *

_

-sighs- Dangit, more fluff. That's the last thing I should be writing. -_-;; At least I got lotsa awkwardness in there? Writing awkward scenes is fun. Overwriting the awkwardness into the awkward scenes is even more fun. And there's no such thing as exaggeration when you're in an awkward situation. 'round two more chapters till we actually have lotsa action-y stuff. Thankfully. I am horrible writing this fluff stuff.


	23. Author's Note

Author's Note

So, I was going to update this. I really was. And then, one night, I started rewriting the first chapter. And then the second. And the third. And into the fourth. And I realized that several things had changed, certain events weren't happening in the same order, and that this just wasn't going to work. So, the reboot of Ina and Fade starts today, and people can follow that. It's going to be much, much better. I'm also filing it under the Misc. section, instead of Ben 10/Code Lyoko crossovers, because really, it has way more crossovers than just those two.

Yeah, this note is for anyone crazy enough to slog through twenty-two chapters.

- Kelar the Mage


End file.
